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LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 

IN  MEMORY  OF 

STEWART  S.  HOWE 

JOURNALISM  CLASS  OF  1928 


STEWART  S.  HOWE  FOUNDATION 


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"OUR    BAD    WEALTH"    SERIES,  No.    i. 


"It  is  high  time  our  bad  wealth  came  to  an  end." — Emerson. 

A   STRIKE   OF    MILLIONAIRES 
AGAINST  MINERS 

OR 

The  Story  of  Spring  Valley 


An  Open  Letter  to  the  Millujnair 


ES 


r.v 

HENRY    1).    LLOYD 


CHICAGO: 

BELFORD-CLARKK  CO.,    i'L'BLLSHERS 

1S90 


COPYRIGHT, 
HENKY    1).    LLOVD, 

1 8  go. 


^^ 


\^ 


V 

CONTENTS. 


CHAFTKR.  PAGE. 

I.  Prelude  of  Starved  Rock           -        -  5 

II.  Only  a  Modern  Instance  -        -         -  9 

III.  Who  Hath  Done  This  Thing?  -         -  13 

IV.  Booming  the  Town      -        -        -        -  22 
V.  Dooming  the  Town     -         -        -         -  47 

VI.  The  Ghost   of  Starved  Rock.  Walks 

Abroad    ------  53 

VII.  Buying  Brethren  Below  Cost   -        -  82 


^  VIII.   How  to  Make  a  "Free  Contract"  -  107 

^  IX.  Appealing  to  the  Governor      -         -  125 

X.  The  Campaign  of  Slander  -         -  143 

XI.   "Feed  My  Lambs"       -         -         -         -  168 

XII.  Millions  in  It      -         -         -         -         -  195 

XIII.  Spring  Valley   Only  a  Skirmish         -  201 

XIV.  First  Fruits  ;    What  Will  the  Last 

Be  ?  -         -         -         -         -         -  215 

XV.  Part  of  the  Moral,  wuh   Postscript  224 

Appendix  —  What  the  Millionaires  Said 
for  Themselves — The  Replies  of 
the  Miners  and  the  Press   -         -  230 


A  STRIKE  OF  MILLIONAIRES. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE  PRELUDE  OF  STARVED  ROCK. 

Where  the  Illinois  sweeps  its  placid  way  to 
the  Mississippi  between  the  wooded  bluffs  of 
La  Salle,  and  over  the  sandstone  which  makes 
many  a  picturesque  shelf  in  the  valley,  stands 
Starved  Rock. 

Rising  straight  from  the  water-side  125  feet, 
it  can  be  ascended  only  by  a  narrow  winding 
path  from  the  shore.  Like  one  of  the  mediae- 
val castles  which  of  old  threatened  but  now 
adorn  the  lochs  of  Scotland,  Starved  Rock 
once  pushed  forth  from  all  surroundings,  proud 
of  itself  as  a  sure  refuge  and  defense.  To-day 
none  but  associations  of  ruin  and  defeat  are 
intertwined  with  the  beauty  of  its  crumbling 
head.  A  fairer  scene  cannot  be  than  that 
which  lies  rolled  out  before  those  who  clamber 
to  the  top  —  the  river,  "winding  at  its  own 
sweet  will;"  its   sedgy   banks,  the   green    and 

(5) 


6  A    STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

yellow  grasses  of  the  bottoms  that  stretch 
along;  the  older  banks  of  rock  and  blufifs  a 
mile  apart,  which  mark  where  the  mightier 
river  flowed  in  prehistoric  days,  when  the 
great  lakes  gave  their  waters  to'the  Mississippi 
instead  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  Farther  yet,  on 
the  higher  level  of  these  older  banks,  swells 
away  the  upland  of  farm  and  village  and  forest. 
Up  the  river  are  Ottawa,  Utica,  Joliet  and 
scores  of  other  flourishing  towns;  down  the 
river  are  La  Salle,  Peru,  and  around  the  bend, 
out  of  sight,  is  Spring  Valley,  once  called  the 
"  Magic  City,"  more  likely  to  be  known  hence- 
forth as  the  "  Tragic  City,"  and  to  share  with 
Starved  Rock  the  romantic  interest  of  this 
unhappy  happy  valley. 

The  Iroquois,  mighty  warriors  of  the  Alle- 
ghanies,  unavailingly  fighting  east  to  keep 
from  going  west  under  the  compulsion  of  the 
stronger  race  that  has  always  been  going  west, 
found  themselves  crowded  into  this  fair  land  on 
an  unknown  day  in  some  unknown  year  centuries 
ago.  It  was  the  hunting  ground  and  living 
ground  of  a  band  of  the  Illinois,  a  gentler  people 
than  the  savage  Iroquois;  but,  as  the  whites 
had  done  to  the  Iroquois,  so  the  Iroquois  did 
to  the  Illinois.  Go  west!  The  last  days  of 
these    Illinois    rose    upon    them    gathered  — 


THE  PRELUDE  OF  STARVED  ROCK.     ^ 

a  remnant  of  one  hundred  men,  women 
and  children  —  on  the  ample  summit  of  the 
rock,  which  rises  as  a  natural  castle  from 
the  edge  of  the  water.  There  was  room 
enough  for  them,  and  there  was  timberfor  their 
fires.  From  the  broad  river  a  hundred  sheer 
feet  and  more  below  no  surprise  or  attack  was 
possible;  the  narrow  pass  upward  on  the  side 
of  the  land  was  a  Thermopylae,  where  a  hand- 
ful could  defy  a  host.  There  the  Illinois  stood 
their  last,  the  Iroquois  gathered  about.  When 
the  besieged  lowered  their  cups  for  water  the 
strings  were  cut;  when  they  stole  forth  for  food, 
they  never  came  back.  The  river  of  love  in 
sky,  leaf  and  view,  breeze  and  bird  song, 
which,  like  the  rippling  river  of  water,  flowed 
through  the  day,  flowed  in  vain  before  the 
cruel  Iroquois.  A  few  demoniac  days  of  wrath 
and  agony,  and  the  Iroquois  stood  upon  the 
wide  top  of  the  castle  of  rock,  and  there  were 
no  Illinois — except  the  dead.  It  was  war,  and, 
to  the  savage,  war  was  right;  but  even  his 
heart  felt  something  out  of  the  ordinary  in  the 
victory.  It  had  been  won,  not  by  hand-to- 
hand  encounter,  nor  by  brave  assault,  but 
Ihrough  the  use,  day  after  day,  of  an  advantage 
of  position  to  deny  food  and  water  to  a  com- 
petitor for  the  possession   of  land   and   home. 


8  •  A   STRIKE   OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

With  a  touch  of  poetry,  and  perhaps  aghmmer 
of  remorse,  the  Indians,  as  they  told  the  story, 
called  the  place  Starv^ed  Rock,  and  Starved 
Rock  the  towered  fastness  will  always  be. 
This  was  War.  War  paused  here  long  enough 
to  give  this  cruel  name  to  the  shapely  tower, 
garlanded  with  green,  and  then  left  the  valley 
of  the  Illinois.  Business  came,  and  Business 
hath  its  victories  no  less  renowned  than  War. 
At  starved  Spring  Valley,  nearb}-,  the  story  of 
a  victory  of  Business  is  printed  in  the  same 
ghastly  figures  as  that  in  which  the  Iroquois 
found  their  success  recorded  the  morninsf 
when,  no  one  opposing,  they  gained  the  top 
of  Starved  Rock, 


CHAPTER  II. 

ONLY  A    MODERN   INSTANCE. 

Great  difficulties  block  the  way  of  the  thor- 
ough investigation  of  the  facts  of  any  particular 
case  of  the  social  problem  by  persons  as  ordi- 
narily circumstanced,  even  when  like  you  to 
whom  these  pages  are  addressed  they  are  stock- 
holders, and,  unlike  you,  are  trying  to  find  out 
what  their  own  directors  are  doing.  It  is  hoped 
that  this  communication  —  a  part  of  which  was 
first  printed  in  the  Chicago  Daily  Herald — may 
be  of  service  not  only  to  you  to  whom  it  is 
specially  addressed,  "  accessories  before  and 
after  the  fact  "  of  Spring  Valley,  but  to  all  who 
want  to  understand  the  "  works  and  days  "  of 
their  brothers  and  sisters.  It  was  agreed  at 
the  National  Convention  of  the  American  Fed- 
eration of  Labor  in  Boston,  in  1889,  that,  as 
their  secretary  put  it,  "  Miners  were  worse  off 
than  any  other  workmen  in  the  country. "  This 
gives  these  results  of  several  months'  almost 
constant  study  of  their  lot,  at  a  place  given 
world-wide   celebrity    by    their    suffering  in  a 

(9) 


10  A    STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

peculiarly  interesting  crisis,  some  special  value. 
From  one  learn  all.  You  cannot  go  over  this 
ground  and  not  gain  some  insight  into  the  gen- 
eral condition  of  American  labor,  and  its  rela- 
tions to  capital,  which  were  but  given  at  Spring 
Valley  a  little  more  light  than  usually  falls 
upon  them. 

I  have  selected  the  story  of  Spring  Valley 
for  narration  because  I  have  come  to  know  it; 
not  because  there  has  been  anything  there  in 
your  conduct  as  capitalists  and  corporations 
specially  worse  than  what  has  been  done  else- 
where. On  the  contrary,  I  believe,  from  my 
investigations,  that  the  case  of  Spring  Valley 
is  fairly  representative  of  the  relations  between 
miners  and  mine-owners  throughout  the  coun- 
try—  and  that  is  the  worst  feature  of  it  all.  If 
Spring  Valley  were  exceptional,  we  could  dis- 
miss it  as  a  mere  aberration  of  the  commercial 
conscience  of  some  particularly  depraved  pot- 
hunter, and  let  it  go.  But  when,  by  reading 
official  documents  like  the  reports  of  the  Ohio 
legislative  committee  of  1885  on  the  Hocking 
Valley  strike,  the  report  of  the  congressional 
committee  of  1887  on  the  coal  strikes  in  Penn- 
sylvania, and  other  authorities,  we  come  to 
realize  that  Spring  Valley  is  but  one  case  out 
of  a  multitude  —  but  one  pustule  of  a  disease 


ONLY   A    MODERN    INSTANCE.  II 

spread  through  the  whole  body — we  begin  to 
get  an  idea  of  the  seriousness  of  our  social 
condition. 

The  story  of  Spring  Valley  needs  but  a 
change  of  names  and  a  few  details  to  be  the 
story  of  Braidwood,  111.,  where  babies  and 
men  and  women  wither  away  to  be  transmi- 
grated into  the  dividends  of  a  millionaire  coal- 
miner  of  Beacon  street,  Boston.  It  needs  but 
a  few  changes  to  be  the  story  of  Punxsutawney 
—  where  starving  foreigners  have  eaten  up  all 
the  dogs  in  the  country  to  keep  themselves 
loyally  alive  to  dig  coal  again  when  their  masters 
re-open  the  coal  kennels;  and  Scranton,  and 
the  Lehigh  Valley,  where  the  hard,  very  hard 
coal  barons  of  Pennsylvania  manufacture  arti- 
ficial winter  for  twelve  months  of  every  year. 
It  needs  but  a  few  changes  to  be  the  story  of 
Brazil,  Ind.,  where  the  Brazil  Block  Coal 
Company  locked  out  their  thousands  of  miners 
last  year  until  their  wives  and  children  grew 
transparent  enough  to  be  glasses  through 
which  the  miners  could  read,  though  darkly, 
the  terms  of  surrender  which  they  had  to 
accept.  It  needs  but  a  few  changes  to  be  the 
story  of  the  Hocking  Valley,  where  Pinkerton 
gunpowder  was  burned  to  give  the  light  by 
which   Labor  could   read   "  the  free  contract" 


12  A   STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

its  brother  Capital  wanted  it  to  sign  —  or  the 
story  of  the  Reading  colheries,  where,  as  the 
congressional  committee  of  1 887-1 888  re- 
ported, the  employer  provoked  the  miners  to 
riot,  and  then  shot  the  rioters  "  legally."  The 
story  of  Spring  Valley  needs  not  many  changes 
to  be  a  picture  of  what  all  American  industry 
will  come  to  be  if  the  power  of  our  Bourbons 
of  business,  such  as  you  have  shown  your- 
selves to  be  at  Spring  Valley,  develops  at  its 
present  rate  up  to  the  end  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 


CHAPTER  III. 

WHO  HATH  DONE  THIS  THING  ? 

Four  legal  dummies,  orfictitious  "  persons," 
were  the  creators  of  Spring  Valley.  These 
were  the  four  corporations,  the  Chicago  & 
North-Western  Railroad,  the  Spring  Valley 
Coal  Company,  the  Spring  Valley  Town  Site 
Company,  and  the  Northwest  Fuel  Company  of 
St.  Paul,  behind  which  you  who  were  the  real 
persons  are  masked.  According  to  any  right 
standard  of  morals  and  law,  every  one  of  you 
who  is  a  stockholder  in  those  corporations 
must  bear  his  share  of  the  responsibility  for 
what  was  done,  just  as  each  of  you  gladly  re- 
ceives his  share  of  the  profits.  At  the  be- 
ginning, Spring  Valley  and  its  miseries  and 
wrongs  were  the  conception  and  achievement 
of  but  one  or  two  among  the  leading  owners  of 
the  railroad  and  the  other  companies.  These 
few  did  the  planning,  secured  the  approval  of 
the  board  of  directors,  and  the  active  officers 
of  the  railroad,  let  in  "  on  the  ground  floor  "the 

influential  men  whose  help  they  wanted,  got 

(13) 


14  A    STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

the  special  freight  rates  needed  to  enable  tne 
"  enterprise"  to  steal  the  business  of  its  com- 
petitors, bought  the  coal  land,  and  invented  the 
various  details  of  the  scheme  by  which  fortunes 
for  you  and  themselves  were  to  be  made  out 
of  the  public  need  for  coal,  the  workingmen's 
need  for  employment,  and  the  misuse  of  the 
powers  of  the  common  carrier.  At  the  incep- 
tion of  the  "  enterprise,"  as  Ali  Baba  would 
have  us  call  it,  some  of  the  directors  and  most 
of  the  stockholders  of  the  railroad,  if  not  those 
of  the  other  corporations,  could  plead  that 
they  had  no  actual  knowledge  of  what  was  go- 
ing on,  and  so  no  real  responsibility  for  it. 
But  the  press  and  other  indignant  protestants 
when  the  iniquities  of  years  culminated  in  the 
"  lock-out"  made  the  whole  matter,  ending  in 
this  strike  of  the  millionaires  against  the  miners, 
a  common  scandal.  But  so  far  as  the  public 
know,  not  one  of  you,  the  directors,  not 
one  of  you,  the  stockholders,  in  whose  name 
and  for  whose  profit  the  campaign  of  starvation 
andslander  was  carriedon,  has  disavowedor  dis- 
couraged it.  You  all  seem  to  have  accepted 
unprotestingly  your  share  of  the  guilt  —  and 
gilt;  and,  if  you  have  had  any  other  anxiety 
than  that  the  millionaires  should  succeed  in  their 
strike  against  the  miners  so  that  you  might  have 


WHO    HATH    DONE   THIS    THING?  I  5 

more  gilt,  you  have  never  let  the  public  be- 
come aware  of  it.  Not  one  of  you,  so  far  as 
known,  sent  a  word  of  sympathy,  or  a  mouthful 
of  food,  to  the  thousands  who  were  being 
ground  to  powder  by  your  agents  for  your 
benefit.  Just  who  you  are,  accessories  of  the 
original  willing  sinners,  the  people  cannot 
learn,  for  the  names  of  the  stockholders  of  our 
public  corporations  are  kept  in  closest  secrecy 
as  one  of  the  prerogatives  of  the  private  owner- 
ship of  public  highways.  The  laws  of  the 
State  of  Illinois  require  its  railroads  to  keep 
records  in  Chicago,  in  which  the  transfers  of 
stock  are  noted.  Even  that  is  not  done  by  these 
bundles  of  men  —  so  powerful  because  so  well 
tied  together.  They  think  it  of  no  ill  omen  to 
themselves,  who  get  their  vast  wealth  from 
control  of  the  roads,  given  them  by  the  law,  to 
set  a  public  example  of  flagrant  nullification  of 
law.  The  corporation,  which  the  great  polit- 
ical economist  Adam  Smith  predicted  would 
never  come  into  general  use,  has  grown  to  be 
the  almost  universal  instrument  of  modern 
business.  It  has  become  greater  than  govern- 
ment, and  it  shrouds  its  members  in  a  secrecy, 
under  the  dark  protection  of  which  they  can, 
with  impunity,  give  rein  to  passions  of  power 
and  greed.     They  have  the   cloak  of  invisi- 


l6  A   STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

bility,  and  they  use  it  as  men  of  prey  and  lust 
would  use  the  darkness  of  our  streets  if  cities 
put  out   their   lights  and  went  back  to  medi- 
iEval   gloom   and  crime.     The   public   cannot 
penetrate  into  the  anonymity  which   protects 
all    of  you    who    are    responsible    for    Spring 
Valley.     It  only  knows  the  names    of  those 
who  were  your  "  directors,"  among  whom  are 
the  largest  owners,  or  representatives  of  the 
largest  owners,  but  does  not  know  what  part 
they  may  have   taken   in  the  transactions   de- 
scribed in  this  book,  nor  to  what  degree  their 
responsibility  is  actual  or  constructive.      This 
is  as  lucky   for  those  actually  guilty,  who  are 
lost  in   the   crowd,  as  it  is   unlucky  for  those 
who  are   discredited  by  being  associated  with 
them.    For  the  Chicago  &  North-Western  Rail- 
way the  directors  were  :   Messrs.  Albert  Keep, 
Chauncey  M.  Depew,  N.  K.    Fairbank,  Will- 
iam  K,    Vanderbilt,    F.   W.  Vanderbilt,  John 
I.   Blair,   William   L.    Scott,  Marvin  Hughitt, 
Horace    Williams,   John     M.     Burke,    H.    M. 
Twomblcy,  D.  O.  Mills,  Samuel    F.    Barger, 
Percy  R.  Pyne,  A.  G.  Dulman,  M.  L.  Sykes, 
D.  P.  Kimball,  and  for  the  Town  Site  Com- 
pany, the   Coal   Company,  and  the  Northwest 
Fuel  Co.  of  St.  Paul,  Messrs.  Scott,  Saunders, 
and  Sheppard,  among  others.     The  Spring  Val- 


WHO   HATH    DONE   THIS   THING?  I'J 

ley  Coal  Company,  owning  and  mining  the  coal 
lands  ;  the  Town  Site  Company,  buying  farms 
to  sell  as  "  city  lots,"  were  organized  and  are 
owned  and  controlled  by  a  powerful  interest 
—  powerful  both  in  ownership  and  authority 
— in  the  Chicago  &  North-Western  Railroad. 
The  same  interest  reappears  in  part  in  the 
Northwest  Fuel  Company,  of  St.  Paul.  In 
the  annual  report  which  you  who  own  the 
North-Western  Railroad  made  to  the  stock- 
holders and  the  public  for  the  fiscal  year  end- 
ing May  31,  1885,  you  said:  "The  company 
has  found  it  necessary  to  begin  the  construc- 
tion of  about  seventy-five  miles  of  railroad, 
projected  as  a  coal  road,  under  the  charter  of 
the  Northern  Illinois  Railway,  extending  from 
the  coal  deposits  adjacent  to  La  Salle,  111.,  to 
Belvidere,  on  the  Freeport  line,  where  it  forms 
a  direct  connection  with  the  lines  of  this  com- 
pany, for  the  distribution  of  coal  in  the  State 
of  Wisconsin  and  throughout  the  Northwest. 
The  lines  will  be  a  great  local  convenience  to 
the  company  in  reaching  a  supply  of  fuel  by 
the  shortest  and  cheapest  route  for  its  own 
consumption  and  for  the  wants  of  the  general 
public.  The  means  for  its  construction  are 
procured  by  the  issue  and  sale  of  the  Northern 
Illinois  first  mortgage   five   per  cent,  twenty- 


l8  A    STRIKE    OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

fw'C  year  bonds  at  the  rate  of  $20,000  a  mile 
for  seventy-five  miles,  and  the  bonds  are  guar- 
anteed, principal  and  interest,  by  the  Chicago 
&  North-Western  Railroad,  the  sole  owners  of 
the  property."  This  announcement  the  public 
afterward  saw  was  made  good  by  the  expendi- 
ture of  large  sums  —  $207,802.82  in  1884-5, 
$r,  1 20, 1 77. 47  in  1885-6,  $72,1  I  2.78  ini  886-7. 
The  owners  of  the  North-Western  Railroad 
and  the  coal  company,  in  part  the  same  per- 
sons, made  contracts  with  each  other,  that  is 
themselves,  for  the  purchase  of  the  coal  and 
for  the  rates  at  which  it  should  be  moved. 
Whenever  the  question  of  coal  freights  between 
northern  Illinois  and  the  Northwest  was  dis- 
cussed by  any  meeting  of  traffic  managers, 
those  representing  the  owners  of  the  North- 
Western  road  always  made  a  fight  to  get  the 
best  rates  for  the  North-Western's  coal  from 
Spring  Valley.  The  road  made  the  same 
charge  for  the  Western  trade  for  hauling  coal 
from  Spring  Valley  as  from  Chicago;  that  is, 
it  hauled  the  coal  from  Spring  Valley  to  Chi- 
cago for  nothing.  By  the  powerful  help  of  the 
managers  of  the  road  the  product  of  Spring 
Valley  has  made  its  appearance  at  all  the  im- 
portant coal-buying  points  in  the  Northwest 
at  prices  which  made  it  morally  certain  to  the 


WHO    HATH    DONE   THIS   THING?  1 9 

» 

unhappy  competitors  that  its  shippers  got  a  re- 
bate. Numberless  circumstances  have  indi- 
cated so  close  a  relation  between  the  railroad 
and  the  coal  company  that  the  latter  is  habitu- 
ally spoken  of  in  the  trade  as  the  "  North- 
Western's  coal  mine,"  and  always  so  among 
railroad  men. 

A  common  personality  runs  through  the 
ownership  of  the  railroad,  the  coal  mine,  the 
town  lots,  and  the  fuel  company's  business. 
Through  this  mutual  element  an  identity  of 
interest  was  established  for  all  the  associated 
capitalists  of  these  enterprises,  who  represent 
upward  of  $500,000,000  at  the  least.  The 
identity  of  interest  has  been  practical,  not 
nominal.  They  have  accepted  the  results,  still 
possess  them,  and  are  expectantly  waiting  for 
more.  Through  the  easy  machinery  of  the  cor- 
poration, which  is  your  kind  of  labor  union,  there 
has  been  a  concert  of  action,  with  a  common 
design,  for  a  common  object.  The  profits  on 
the  sale  of  farms  as  city  lots  to  laborers  and 
tradesmen,  on  the  transportation  of  the  coal, 
on  the  use  of  it  for  the  locomotives  of  the 
road,  on  the  buying  and  selling  of  it,  on  the 
sales  of  supplies  to  the  miners,  have  gone 
to  one  or  another  of  you  to  whom  this  letter 
is  addressed.      You  cannot  share  in  the  benefits 


20  A   STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

of  this  co-operation  without  sharing  its  respon- 
sibilities, even  though  you  act  through  the  con- 
venient impersonality  of  the  corporation.     You 
are  the  "  Captains  of  Industry  "  in  this  enterprise, 
and,  if  you  accept  the  acts  of  your  agents,  they 
are  your   acts.      Your  agent    has  appealed  in 
numbers  of  public  statements  to  the  public  to 
be  the  arbiter  between  you  and  the  workingmen 
and    business   men  of    Spring  Valley,    whose 
harm  he  has  wrought  —  and  you  have  wrought 
if   you    abide    with    him  —  for    your    business 
gain.      "  With  public  opinion,"  said   Lincoln, 
"  all  things  are  possible;   against  it,  nothing  is 
possible."     Whether    your    agent    has    done 
wisely  to   appeal    to    public  opinion   depends 
altogether  upon  whether  the  things    done  for 
you  to  the  men  he  and  you  have  persuaded  to 
dig  your  coal,  buy  your  goods  and  real  estate, 
and  accept  the  "  good  chance  for  a  home"  you 
advertised,  have  been  fair  and  square,  kindly 
and   honest.      There   has  been   a  profit  on  all 
the  various  branches  of  the  enterprise.      The 
company  store  and  the  land   speculation  have 
made  money.      The  railroad    has  reduced   the 
cost  of  fuel   for  its  locomotives,  and   the  coal 
company   has    added    to    its  plant   out   of    its 
profits,  though  it  has  made  no  dividend.      But 
whether  your  attempt  to  make  money  has  been 


WHO    HATH   DONE   THIS   THING?  21 

successful  or  not  makes  here  not  one  iota  of 
difference.  Public  opinion  has  not  yet  rotted 
down  to  the  point  of  permitting  rich  men,  men 
skilled  in  affairs,  to  violate  all  their  pledges  to 
poor  and  inexperienced  followers,  simply  be- 
cause profits  have  been  unsatisfactory,  nor 
will  it  allow  the  capitalist  to  starve  the  laborer 
to  make  larger  profits. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

BOOMING   THE   TOWN. 

You  in  your  dififerent  provinces  created  this 
enterprise,  with  its  railroad,  coal  mines,  land 
speculation  and  fuel  business  in  1884,  acting 
simultaneously  and  re-enforcing  each  other. 
Where  Spring  Valley  is,  there  was  then  only 
field  and  forest.  The  land  you  needed  had  to 
be  obtained  from  the  farmer.  You  gave  them 
$35  up  to  $80  an  acre,  in  very  few  cases  more, 
for  land  which  you  resold  in  lots  for  thousands 
of  dollars  an  acre.  Where  you  bought  only 
the  right  to  the  coal  underneath  you  paid  them 
sometimes  less  than$io  an  acre,  seldom  much 
more,  for  rights  for  which  $15  to  $35  an  acre 
is  gladly  paid  in  neighboring  localities  by 
other  companies. 

Town  site  companies  are  a  familiar  device 
in  the  development  of  the  money-making  pos- 
sibilities of  the  modern  railroad  man.  They 
are  all  about  the  same  thing.  They  are  made 
up  by  insiders  in  railroad  management.  These 
insiders  take  advantage  of  their  knowledge  as 


BOOMING  THE   TOWN.  23 

to  where  new  lines  are  to  be  built  and  where 
the  railroads  mean  to  stop  their  trains,  or  they 
use  their  power  to  say  where  they  shall  stop. 
Knowing  the  one  or  commanding  the  other, 
they  buy  up  the  land  of  the  farmers  who  do  not 
know  it,  at  prices  far  below  their  prospective 
value.  These  farms,  converted  into  cities,  on 
paper,  and  sliced  up  into  diminutive  metro- 
politan lots,  are  then  sold  to  credulous  people 
at  fictitious  prices  created  by  every  artifice  of 
advertising,  of  wash  sales,  of  mushroom  pros- 
perity produced  by  all  the  means  within  the 
power  of  railroad  manipulations.  When  the 
game  of  "  terminal  points,"  "  new  hotels," 
"  great  manufacturing  center, "  "  car-shop  site," 
"  grand  opera  house,"  "  investments  by  the 
directors  themselves,"  has  been  worked  for  all 
it  is  worth  at  one  point,  the  great  men  move  on 
to  the  next  town,  to  repeat  the  same  process. 

While  shrewd  agents  busied  themselves  in 
buying  up  the  lands  of  uninformed  farmers, 
maps  were  made  of  the  "  city  "  of  Spring 
Valley,  by  the  Town  Site  Company,  whose 
only  "  improvements"  consisted  in  laying  off 
the  new  metropolis  on  paper.  All  the  mak- 
ing of  roads,  lighting,  grading,  sidewalking, 
and  other  needed  work  were  left  to  be  made 
by    the    purchasers    of    its    lots,     when    they 


24  A    STRIKE    OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

wanted  to  use  them.  Those  of  you  who 
estabHshed  the  Spring  Valley  Town  Site  Com- 
pany gerrymandered  its  boundaries  so  that 
your  coal  mines,  advertised  by  you  to  be  the 
"principal  industry  "  of  the  town,  lay  outside 
the  town. 

You  thereby  escaped  your  share  of  muni- 
cipal taxation,  and  threw  it  on  the  working- 
men  and  the  tradesmen,  who  gave  your  prop- 
erty all  its  value. 

How  did  you  of  the  coal  company  and  the 
land  company  sell  this  land,  and  how  did  you 
draw  in  the  workingmen  and  others  to  dig 
your  coal  and  buy  your  real  estate  ?  In  the 
first  number  of  the  Spring  Valley  Gazette  you 
published  the  following  advertisement.  It 
covered  half  a  page  with  the  biggest  kind  of 
black  type,  and  ran  with  changes  as  needed 
in  the  paper  for  nearly  four  years  until  the 
middle  of  May,  1889.  The  date  of  the  follow- 
ing is  November   14,  1885: 

A  CHANCE 

For  making 
Prcfitable  investments 
In  tlie  town  of 
Spring  Valley,  situated  in  the  eastern  part  of  Bureau  County, 
on  the  line  of  Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  Railway 
and  the  terminus  of  the  Chicago  and  North- 
western Railroad,  offers  extraordinary 
inducements  to  every  one  who 
may  desire 


BOOMING   THE   TOWN.  25 

A  GOOD  LOCATION 

FOR 

BUSINESS  OR    A  HOME. 

The  principal  industry  upon  which  the  town  is  now  dependent 

is  its 

IMMENSE  COAL  FIELDS, 

Comprising   about    fifteen    thousand    acres,    which    are    being 

rapidly  developed  by  the  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company. 

Three  mines  are  already  in  operation. 

Within  eighteen  months  at  least 

TWO  THOUSAND 

MIXERS  WILL  FIND 

STEADY  EMPLOYMENT. 

The  bright  prospects  for  the  place  shortly  becoming  one  of  the 

leading  manufacturing  towns  in  the  State,  with 

Good  drainage, 

Plenty  of  good  water, 

Excellent  building  stone, 

Brick  yards,  etc.,  and  with  the  two  lines  of  railroad  to  Chicago 

and   Milwaukee,  and  surrounded  by  one   of  the  best 

farming  districts   in   the    .State    offers    to    all 

w  ho  may 

DESIRE  A  CHANGE  IN  LOCATION  OF  BUSINESS 

A  chance  seldom  found. 
Building  and  business  lots  are  offered  at 

LOW  PRICES. 
TERMS  REASONABLE. 

Eor  further  information,   write  or  apply  to  the  Vice-President 

and  General  Manager  Spring  \'al]ey  Coal  Company, 

Spring  Valley,  111. 

This  advertisement  and  similar  ones  were 
circulated  all  over  the  country  in  newspapers 
and  pamphlets.  When  it  became  known  that 
you,  who  owned  the  North-Western  Railroad, 
were  to  extend  its  tracks  to  Spring  Valley,  the 


26  A    STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

miners  who  had  hesitated  to  sell  their  homes 
elsewhere  and  move  in,  the  little  capitalists  in 
surrounding  towns  who  had  hesitated  to  invest 
their  savings  in  the  purchase  of  lots,  hesi- 
tated no  longer.  Where  such  men  led,  it  was 
safe  for  them  to  follow,  and  they  followed.    " 

The  Spring  Valley  (^^^^//c' of  November  14, 
1885,  said:  "What  makes  Spring  Valley 
different  from  other  coal  towns  is  the  fact  that 
the  contracts  for  the  coal  were  made  before 
the  fields  were  open.  It  is  to  supply  the 
Chicago  &  North-Western  and  the  vast  coal- 
using  country  tributary  to  that  system.  The 
coal  company  is  the  largest  soft-coal  corpora- 
tion in  the  country,  having  a  paid-up  capital 
of  $1,500,000,  The  selling  of  lots  began  in 
July  last,  and  at  the  present  time  (July  to 
November)  about  1,000  lots  have  been  sold. 
The  price  of  lots  ranges  from  $150  to  $300." 
According  to  these  figures,  which  were  prob- 
ably furnished  to  the  Gazette  by  the  agent  of 
the  town-site  company  to  help  the  "  boom," 
the  total  sales  in  the  first  six  months  had  been 
about  $200,000  for  land  which  had  cost  less 
than  $20,000. 

From  the  coal-mining  places  in  Illinois  and 
the  neighboring  States  miners  who  could  move 
did  so.      It  was  by  the  best  of  their  class  that 


BOOMING   THE   TOWN.  2/ 

the  skillfully  prepared  bait  was  taken.  It  was 
not  the  lazy  miners  who  took  the  trouble  to 
move  themselves  to  the  new  industrial  center. 
It  was  not  the  poor  workers  who  could  not  get 
out  of  debt  where  they  were  —  it  was  not  the 
thoughtless  and  intemperate,  who  had  saved 
no  money  with  which  to  make  the  transfer. 
The  men  who  came  to  Spring  Valley  were 
picked  men  —  selected  out  of  the  whole  number 
of  the  coal  miners  of  the  country  by  their  intel- 
ligence, their  thrift,  their  habits  of  industry. 
These  men  read  the  statements  published  by 
the  Chicago  &  North-Western  Railway,  the 
Spring  Valley  Coal  Company  and  the  Town 
Site  Company,  and,  seeing  that  the  leaders  of 
the  enterprise  were  of  the  best  business  talent 
of  America,  and  able,  with  their  hundreds  of 
millions  of  capital,  to  carry  out  any  enterprise 
they  undertook,  decided,  without  a  second 
thought,  "  Spring  Valley  is  the  place  for  us 
and  our  families."  From  Streator,  La  Salle, 
Braidwood,  Peru,  from  all  the  neighboring  coal- 
mining towns,  miners  who  had  saved  money 
enough  to  buy  homes  for  themselves  sold  them, 
and  bought  lots,  went  to  work,  and  began  to 
build  in  Spring  Valley  to  get  the  greater 
advantages  promised  by  the  greater  capital, 
better  equipments  and  more  skillful  manage- 


28  A    STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

merit  of  the  "  captains  of  industry  "  there. 
The  announcements  and  advertisements  of 
these  rich  and  powerful  and  experienced  men 
of  affairs  assured  them  of  steady  work,  living 
wages,  and  all  the  appliances  of  civilization. 
It  was  not  miners  alone  who  were  taken  in  the 
net.  Traders  in  every  line  of  business  in  the 
surrounding  towns  sold  out,  and  reinvested  in 
Spring  Valley. 

Paragraphs  like  these,  culled  from  the  local 
press,  give  a  hint  of  the  fervor  with  which  your 
lead  was  followed: 

The  Joliet  Record,  in  February,  1886,  said: 
"  In  Spring  Valley  there  are  now  three  hundred 
voters  where  six  months  ago  were  only  a  few 
farms.  One  hundred  thousand  dollars  have 
since  that  time  been  invested  there  in  business 
houses,  residences  and  tenements." 

The  Spring  Valley  Gazette  said,  on  March 
27,  1886:  "  No  less  than  twelve  new  buildings 
were  begun  this  week."  April  loth:  "  Spring 
Valley  is  booming."  April  17th:  "  From  the 
Gazette  office  sixteen  new  buildings  can  be 
seen  in  construction.  Talk  about  '  boom;  ' 
the  word  is  tame  and  feeble  to  express  the 
activity  of  Spring  Valley."  April  loth:  "Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Fleming,  of  Sheffield,  were  in  our  city 
this  week  and  purchased  several  lots."     April 


BOOMING   THE    TOWN.  20 

26th:  "  One  of  Streator's  heaviest  capitalists 
has  $7,000  invested  in  Spring  Valley  real 
estate."  On  October,  1888,  the  Gazette  SKi<^: 
"  On  Wednesday  a  number  of  Eastern  capital- 
ists, accompanied  by  Marvin  Hughitt,  general 
manager  of  the  North-Western  Railroad, 
were  in  town,  and  were  so  favorably  impressed 
with  the  '  Magic  City  '  that  they  intend  to  put 
some  money  in  it.      Let  her  boom." 

How  successful  the  boomers  were  the  trium- 
phant changes  in  the  advertisements  in  the 
pamphlets,  papers,  etc. ,  show.  A  few  months 
after  the  appearance  of  the  advertisement 
given  above  a  new  one  was  prepared  and  took 
its  place.  This  was  circulated  broadcast  in  the 
newspapers,  filling  a  half  page  in  the  Spring 
Valley  Gazette,  and  also  in  a  pamphlet  spe- 
cially prepared  to  boom  the  town,  and  dis- 
tributed   for    that    purpose    throughout    the 

country.      Here  is  the  new  advertisement: 
"SPRING  VALLEY." 


•  *     *■ 


The  coming  manufactur- ;  ;      The  principal  industry  up-; 

;ing  town  of  the  State  of  lUi-;  ;  on  which  thetownisdepend-; 

Inois,    situated    in     Bureau;  lent    are    its    immense   coal; 

:  County,  at  the  terminus   of;  ;  fields,     comprising     40,000; 

;  the  Chicago  &  North-West- ;  ;  acres  and  five  large  mines  al- ; 

;  ern  Rail  way,and  on  the  lines  l  ;  ready  sunk,  which  are  being ; 

;of  the  C,  R.  L  &   P.   and;  ; developed    by    the    Spring; 

;  Burlington  Railway.             ;  ;  Valley  Ccjal  Company. 

* -y;         ^ * 

LARGE  INDUCEMENTS  TO  MANUFACTURERS 

— GOOD  EOCATION  FOR  A  HOME. 


30  A    STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 


* ' 

;      Other  large  mines  in  the 

;  vicinity   of    Spring    Valley 

;are  also  in  operation.     The 

;  town  has  now  a  population 

I  of  4,500,  and  is  rapidly  in- 

!  creasing. 

* 


* * 

2,000  men  are  now  em- 

;]iloyed  in  the  mines  of  the 
;  Spring  Valley  Coal  Co., 
;  and  in  less  than  two  years 
;  will  employ  from  3,500  to 
:  4,000  men. 


BUILDING  A.ND  BUSINESS  LOTS  AT  LOW  PRICES, 

AND  ON  THE  MOST  REASONABLE  TERMS. 

The   Good   Drainage,    Plenty    of    Water,    Excellent    Building 

Stone,  Brick  Yards,   Etc.,   together  with  the  Three 

Lines  of  Railway  to  Chicago  and  Milwaukee, 

and  surrounded  with  one  of  the  best 

farming  districts  in  the  State, 

makes  it  a  most  desirable 

place  to  locate. 


For  further  information  or  particulars,  address 

the  Vice-President  and  Gen.  Manager 
Spring  Valley  Coal  Co.,  Spring  Valley,  Bureau  Co.,  111. 

The  changes  are  significant.  The  coal  fields, 
which  at  first  covered  only  15,000  acres,  now 
amount  to  40,000.  The  coal  had  proved  so 
good  and  the  operations  of  the  mines  so  satis- 
factory that  25,000  acres  more  of  coal  rights 
had  been  purchased.  The  population,  which 
had  been  too  small  to  mention  in  the  first 
advertisement,  had  now  grown  to  4,500,  "  and 
is  rapidly  increasing."  The  three  mines  have 
become  five.  The  prophecy  that  "  within 
eighteen  months  at  least  two  thousand  miners 
will  find  steady  employment "  has  been  verified, 
and  the  new  prophecy  is  put  out  that  "  in  less 


BOOMING   THE   TOWN.  3 1 

than   two  years  the  mines   will  employ   from 
3,500  to  4,000  men." 

There  were  many  ways  of  luring  into  this 
paradise  the  workmen  without  the  sweat  of 
whose  brows  you  could  not  eat  bread.  There 
have  been  all  through  the  summer  of  1889 
hundreds  of  Belgian  and  French  women  and 
children  and  a  few  men  in  Spring  Valley  who 
have  been  kept  from  starvation  only  by  kinder 
hearts  than  their  employers,  and  who  were 
enticed  thither  from  their  homes  and  employ- 
ment in  France  and  Belgium  by  false  repre- 
sentations made  by  an  agent  whose  foot-tracks 
his  victims  declare  they  have  traced  straight 
to  the  company's  office  in  Spring  Valley.  In 
the  Pittsburg  Labor  Tribune  of  September  28, 
1886,  we  read:  "  Parties  from  Spring  Valley 
were  in  Decatur  last  week  looking  for  200  men 
to  go  to  work  there."  The  advertisements  in 
newspapers  and  pamphlets  circulated  every- 
where drew  men  from  points  as  far  away  as 
Iowa  and  Colorado  to  get  "  steady  employ- 
ment "  and  a  "  good  chance  for  a  home. " 

These  tactics  of  your  agent,  in  befooling, 
with  false  promises,  honest  and  sturdy  foreign 
workingmen  to  come  over  to  flood  the  labor 
market  of  Spring  Valley,  are  unfortunately  no 
new  thing  in  American  "  business  "  methods, 


3^  A    STRIKE   OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

but  they  are  all  the  worse  for  being  old.     The 
"  supply  "  of  labor  is  in  this  way  made  to  over- 
run  the  "  demand,"  and  the   sacred  character 
of  the  "  immutable    law  of    supply    and    de- 
mand "  is  given  an  illustration  which  working- 
men  understand,   even   if  political  economists 
do  not.     The  "  unchanging  "  law,  when  worked 
in  this  way,  increases   the  number  of  the  cus- 
tomers   who    buy   goods   at    the    "  pluck-me  " 
stores  kept  by  the  company,  makes  wages  low 
by  the  underbidding  of  the  unemployed  against 
the  employed;  it  keeps  the  men  poor,  humble, 
and  submissive  to  all  your  regulations  and  exac- 
tions.    This  method  of  regulating  "  supply  and 
demand"   is   not  a  native  product  of  Illinois. 
It  is  an  importation  from   Pennsylvania.     The 
select   committee    of  Congress   which  investi- 
crated  the   labor   troubles  in    Pennsylvania    in 

1888,  say: 

"  Many  thousands  of  surplus  laborers  are 
always  kept  on  hand  to  underbid  each  other 
for  employment,  and  thereby  folate  the  men  to 
submit  to  whatever  treatment  the  company 
may  impose.  Squads  of  Poles,  Italians,  and 
Huns  many  of  whom  cannot  speak  English, 
throng  the  mines  to  compete  for  work. 
*       ■  *  *  The  question  will  force  itself, 

Why  are  the  mines  overrun  by  these  foreigners? 


BOOMING   THE   TOWN.  33 

How     do    they     get    there?     and    by    whose 
agency? " 

I  visited  many  of  these  French  and  Belgians. 
As  a  rule,  only  the  women  and  children  were 
at  home.  The  men  had  gone  away  to  seek 
work  in  other  towns,  and  even  in  other  States. 
Very  poor  the  homes  were,  and  gaunt  the 
women  and  children.  Clothing,  food,  bed- 
ding, furniture,  were  all  down  to  the  lowest 
level  of  a  pitiful  minimum.  How  had  they 
happened  to  come  to  America?  A  man  had 
come  to  them  at  Pas-de-Calais,  and  Courcelles- 
les-Sens,  etc.,  etc.,  and  told  them  of  the  good 
pay  and  the  good  times  they  could  have  at 
Spring  Valley. 

He  gave  us  a  card,  and,  if  we  gave  that  to 
the  gentleman  at  Spring  Valley,  he  would  give 
us  the  good  work  and  the  high  wages." 

"  Were  they  glad  they  had  come?  " 
Oh,  monsieur,  see    how   we    live.      It  was 
better  at  home!      If  we    could  only  get  back. 
We  did  better  at  home." 

I  listened.  Of  course,  there  would  be  angry 
words,  vindictive  outbreaks  of  indignation 
against  those  who  had  so  cruelly  unhomed  and 
expatriated  them  for  the  sake  of  a  little  extra 
profit.  But  there  was  nothing  of  the  kind, 
not  even  a  flash  of  wrath.      The  poor  people 

3 


34  "     A    STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

answered    all    inquiries    gently  and    patiently 
and    intelligently,    but    never    a    harsh    word 
against  their  oppressors.      They  even  laughed 
as  they  talked.      It  was  as  if  they  felt  it  all  to 
be  part   of   the    inevitable   ill  fortune  of   life, 
which  they  must  bear   as  best  they  could.      I 
was  amazed  and   humbled.      It  seemed  to  me 
that,  had  I  been  thus  made  the  victim  of  inhu- 
man  greed    for  "  more,"  had   I    and  my  home 
and  my  life  been  butchered — not  "  to  make  a 
Roman   holiday,"  but  an  American  dividend 
—  I  would  have   thought  a   lifetime  too  little 
to    give   to    a    crusade    of    retribution.      The 
truth  then   first   really  dawned  upon   me,  that 
there  is  a  sanctification  which  comes,  however 
unconsciously,    to    the   victims  of  wrong  and 
injustice,   and  that  it  is    the  master,    not  the 
slave,  who  receives  the  double  curse  of  oppres 
sion. 

It  was  a  brilliant  success,  this  booming  of 
the  town,  and  great  was  the  profit  of  it.  A 
more  brilliant  stroke  still  was  to  follow,  and 
greater  would  be  the  profit  of  that,  the  doom- 
ing of  the  town. 

Those  were  bright  days  in  Spring  Valley,  in 
1885,  1886,  1887,  when  the  soft  notes  of  the 
"  boomer"  called  every  one  to  "  profitable  in- 
vestments,"   "  steady    employment,"    "  good 


BOOMING   THE   TOWN.  35 

chances  for  a  home,"  and  "  special  inducements 
to  business."  People  of  all  kinds  were  pour- 
ing into  the  magic  city.  The  Kev.  John  F, 
Powers,  in  charge  of  a  well-established  Cath- 
olic church  at  Peru,  gave  it  up,  and  came  to 
Spring  Valley  to  build  up  a  new  congregation. 
Other  clergymen  and  doctors  and  teachers 
came,  and  workingmen  of  all  kinds.  Rents 
were  high,  buildings  could  be  rented  for  $i8o 
a  month  that  cost  only  $3,000  to  build.  Those 
who  bought  lots  could  turn  around  immedi- 
ately and  sell  them  at  a  handsome  advance. 
The  miners,  under  the  promise  of  steady  em- 
ployment, bought  your  lots  on  monthly  pay- 
ments, and  began  to  build  homes,  getting  their 
lumber  and  material  of  the  company.  The 
miners  had  to  buy  their  lots  under  arrange- 
ments which  forfeited  all  they  had  paid,  and 
the  lot,  too,  if  at  any  time  they  discontinued 
their  monthly  payments,  no  matter  how  near 
the  end  of  their  indebtedness  they  might  have 
got.  This  forfeiture  could  be  declared  by  the 
company  without  notice  to  the  poor  miner, 
and  without  any  legal  proceedings  in  which  he 
might  defend  his  rights.  But  the  miners  were 
brave-hearted;  they  loved  to  have  homes  of 
their  own,  and  they  made  these  razor-edged 
agreements  and  went  in  debt  for  lumber,  be- 


36  A   STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

lieving  all  would  come  out  right,  since  there 
was  to  be  "  steady  employment." 

Upon  inquiring  among  these  trusting  men 
for  copies  of  the  deeds  or  contracts  executed 
between  the  seller  and  these  simple-minded  buy- 
ers, I  cannot  find  any.  But  I  do  find  cases  in 
which  the  company  sold  lots  without  giving  the 
workingman  who  bought  a  shred  of  title  to 
attest  their  rights.  Taking  sometimes  33  per 
cent,  of  the  price  in  cash,  it  charged  them  with 
the  balance,  and  took  part  of  their  pay  every 
month  to  wipe  it  off.  All  that  such  buyers 
had  to  show  for  their  money  and  title  were  a 
receipt  and  an  entry  on  the  books,  and  what 
is  an  entry  worth  when  it  is  in  the  books  of 
men  who  deal  thus  with  poor  and  inexperi- 
enced "  brothers  "  ?  Not  one  of  you  would 
buy  ten  cents'  worth  of  land  in  that  way. 

There  were,  at  last,  five  thousand  people  in 
Spring  Valley;  the  main  business  street  had 
two  rows  of  flourishing  stores;  there  were  two 
places  of  worship,  a  public  library  and  gym- 
nasium, clubs  and  debating  societies,  Knights 
of  Labor  assemblies,  a  court-room,  two  hotels, 
and  an  opera  house.  Very  intelligent  men 
the  miners  were  —  the  picked  men  of  the 
industry.  There  were  not  a  few  among  them 
who    could    discuss    the    theories    of    Henry 


BOOMING   THE   TOWN.  37 

George,  Herbert  Spencer,  Darwin,  with  any 
one.  Strangers  who  visited  the  clubs  and  de- 
batingf  societies  of  the  miners  declared  them- 
selves  astonished  by  their  intelligence  and 
range  of  knowledge.  These  were  days  of  hope 
and  growth.  One  cloud  there  was.  The 
miners,  work  their  hardest,  could  not  make 
the  wages  they  had  been  promised.  The 
mines  were  good,  and  of  a  kind  miners  liked 
to  work  in,  for  they  were  free  from  water,  and 
no  powder  was  required.  But  the  earnings 
of  the  men  were  barely  enough  to  carry  them 
through.  A  man  in  a  good  place,  with  steady 
work,  could  earn  $45  to  $60  in  a  month, 
and  more  if  he  got  into  a  particularly  good 
"  pocket,"  but  work  was  never  continuous. 
Sometimes  it  was  a  fall  of  rock  in  the  road- 
way; sometimes  a  lack  of  cars  to  take  away 
the  coal;  sometimes  a  suspension  on  account 
of  a  dull  market;  sometimes  a  man's  room  or 
place  in  the  vein  would  be  shut  off  by  a  new 
road,  and  he  would  have  to  wait  until  another 
place  could  be  had.  Sometimes  it  was  one 
thing,  sometimes  another;  but  the  upshot  of  it 
was  that,  mostly,  when  the  miner  came  to  settle 
with  the  company  for  the  preceding  month's 
work,  he  found  that,  after,  paying  for  his  oil, 
and  the  sharpening  of  his  tools,  his  rent  or  his 


38  A   STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

monthly  installment  on  the  lot  he  had  bought, 
his  monthly  contribution  to  the  doctor,  and 
his  bill  at  the  company's  store,  there  was 
nothing  left.  He  had  just  made  ends  meet; 
perhaps  he  was  a  little  behind.  Take  it  by  the 
year,  doing  well  one  month,  idle  the  whole  of 
the  next,  the  men  could  not  make  much  more 
than  about  $30  a  month.  That  is  to  say,  they 
got  for  their  lives  and  labor  a  scanty  allowance 
of  food,  clothing,  roofing,  but  not  enough; 
and  practically  nothing  of  the  many  other 
things  which  people  must  have  who  are 
to  keep  up  their  health  and  strength  —  nothing 
for  their  old  age,  and  nothing  to  help  them  for 
their  duties  as  fathers  and  citizens. 

The  physical  conditions  under  which  the 
Spring  Valley  miners  work  are  better  than 
those  in  many  other  places,  but  they  are  not 
easy.  You  for  whom  the  coal  is  dug,  either 
for  your  dividends  or  your  comfort,  as  you  sit 
before  your  glowing  fires,  are  too  far  away 
from  the  toil  and  trouble  of  the  miner.  They 
spend  ten  hours  a  day  in  their  caverns  —  pitch 
dark — except  for  the  flicker  and  glimmer  of  the 
little  lamp  each  carries  in  the  front  of  his  cap. 
For  months  in  the  short  winter  days,  when  it 
is  not  yet  light  at  seven,  and  is  dark  by 
half-past    five,  these  men    see   daylight,  only 


BOOMING   THE   TOWN.  39 

on  Sunday  —  once  a  week.  They  have  to  work 
upon  their  knees,  or  lying  on  their  side,  or 
stooping  low,  and  sometimes  are  obliged  to  lie 
flat  on  their  backs  while  digging  at  the  ceil- 
ing. 

This  hard  work  in  a  room  three  feet  or  three 
feet  six  inches  high,  hundreds  of  feet  below  the 
surface,  in  the  gloom  of  perpetual  night,  with  air 
to  breathe  got  only  by  artificial  and  imperfect 
ventilation,  is  the  human  price  that  has  to  be 
paid  on  all  our  coal.  You  know  this  coal  only 
as  light,  heat,  power,  profit,  comfort,  a  means 
of  longer  life  or  greater  wealth.  To  the  miner 
it  is  a  black  and  obdurate  enemy,  a  jailer  that 
imprisons  him,  shutting  out  his  sunlight,  the 
fresh  air  of  the  hills  and  meadows,  the  sounds 
of  birds  and  the  river;  threatening  him  daily 
with  death  or  mutilation  in  strange  and  terri- 
ble forms,  and  rewarding  his  faithfulest  and 
luckiest  toil  with  less  than  the  cost  of  subsist- 
ence—  if  the  cost  of  subsistence  of  the  Ameri- 
can citizen  of  this  free  and  glorious  republic,  is 
to  include  food,  clothing,  shelter,  family  life, 
amusement,  education,  leisure,  and  old  age. 

Such  subsistence  as  this  is  possible  to  no 
miner,  and  becomes  more  impossible  every 
day.  It  is  easy  for  the  owner  of  the  mines, 
the  stockholders,  to  juggle  with  their  figures 


40  A    STRIKE    OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

of  capital,  operating  expenses,  profit  and  loss, 
to  convince  the  public  that  they  cannot  pay 
living  wages.  The  poorest  of  these  stock- 
holders lives  in  a  social  world  which  to  the 
miner  would  seem  a  heaven.  The  contrast 
between  their  "  much,"  and  the  miner's  "little," 
puts  all  their  bookkeeping  to  the  blush.  It  is 
this  gulf  between  the  lot  of  the  employer  and 
that  of  the  employe,  all  through  our  mod- 
ern life  which  gives  itspulseto  the  social  ques- 
tion. A  lithe  bookkeeping  in  the  world  can- 
not write  out  the  deficit  which  the  working- 
men's  account  shows  in  comparison  with  that 
of  the  business  men.  In  every  city,  the  con- 
trast between  what  is  got  by  the  brothers  who 
employ  and  the  brothers  who  are  employed, 
speaks  for  itself. 

None  of  the  promises  of  steady  employmenc 
and  good  pay  were  fulfilled.  As  to  the  pay 
Messrs.  Gould  and  Wines,  the  latter  secretary 
of  the  State  Board  of  Charities,  the  special  com- 
missioner appointed  by  the  governor  to  inves- 
tigate the  trouble  in  these  and  the  adjoining 
coal  regions,  reported,  August,  1889,  after 
careful  inquiry,  that  the  average  was  $31.62 
per  month,  which  they  declared  was  "  certainly 
less  than  any  laboring  man  ought  to  receive." 
Take  a  concrete  case  which  is  worth  all  the  sta- 


BOOMING   THE   TOWN.  41 

tistics  in  the  world:   C W is  a  steady 

German  miner,  who  has  had  fifteen  years'  ex- 
perience in  the  mines.  He  has  been  at  Spring 
Valley  four  years.  When  you  gentlemen  of 
$500,000,000  invited  him  to  come  to  Spring 
Valley  he  was  working  at  Coal  City.  He  sold 
the  house  and  lot  he  had  bought  with  his  sav- 
ings there,  and  bought  a  lot  at  Spring  Valley, 
paying  at  the  rate  of  $1,400  an  acre  for  what 
cost  you  between  $50  and  $80  an  acre,  a 
profit  of  about  2 ,000  per  cent.  His  earnings  the 
first  month  were  $13,  and  he  has  been  "  laid 
off"  by  the  company  for  weeks  and  months  at 
a  time.  His  highest  wages  for  any  month  in 
the  four  years  have  been  $65.  I  procured  his 
monthly  statements  of  account  with  the  com- 
pany for  the  eight  months  ending  with  the 
lock-out  in  May.  His  earnings  for  the  entire 
period  were  $230.07,  an  average  of  $28.76  a 
month,  and  of  this  he  actually  received  only 
$28.56  in  cash,  all  the  rest  being  taken  by  the 
company  for  supplies  bought  at  the  company 
store.  This  man  was  absolutely  temperate  ; 
he  could  not  have  been  very  riotous  on  $28  in 
eight  months.  His  wife  told  me  that  he  had 
never  been  able  to  make  enough  in  Spring 
Valley  to  support  the  family,  and  that  she  and 
the  eldest  daughter  had  had  to  go  out  washing 


42  A   STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

to  keep  them  alive.  He  has  eight  children. 
He  was  foolish  enough,  relying  on  the  leader- 
ship of  the  gentlemen  to  whom  this  letter  is 
addressed,  to  build  a  house,  borrowing  part  of 
the  money.  Your  lock-out  cut  off  the  little 
income  he  had.  When  I  saw  him  his  interest 
was  overdue,  and  he  was  awaiting  in  quiet  de- 
spair a  foreclosure  which  would  sweep  away  all 
that  remained  of  fifteen  years'  hard  work  and 
savings.  Yet  this  man  and  his  wife  told  their 
story  without  a  word,  look  or  tone  of  the 
righteous  wrath  against  you  which  I  should 
have   supposed   would   consume  their    hearts. 

How  thrifty  and  good  a  man  C \V is 

I  could  see  bv  a  little  advertisement  of  his  I 
found  in  looking  over  the  files  of  the  local 
paper.  It  was  inserted  when  he  first  came  to 
Spring  Valley,  full  of  hope,  and  willing  to 
work  at    night  at   home  after  working  all  day 

at   the  mines.      It   read:    "  C W will 

receive  orders  for  carpet  weaving  at  his  home, 
— '■ —  street." 

Against  such  instances  from  real  life  and  the 
careful  investigations  of  the  commissioners  of 
the  State,  it  is  ridiculous  for  the  coal  com., 
pany  to  put  forward,  as  it  has  done,  a  state- 
ment of  the  earnings  of  twenty-five  men, 
picked  out  of  2,500,  as   fair  specimens  of  the 


BOOMING   THE   TOWN.  43 

way    in    which    the    milHonaires  have  divided 
with  the  miners.* 

The  statements  which  the  company  makes 
monthly  to  its  men  are  called  "Miner's  Ab- 
stracts." Here  is  one  of  them  obtained  from 
a  miner.  The  man  is  not  designated  by  his 
name,  but  by  a  number  —  in  this  case  2,103  — 
stamped  on  tin  tags,  which  he  puts  on  all  the 
loaded  cars  he  sends  out  of  the  mine,  so  that 
they  may  be  credited  to  him.  This  abstract 
needs  no  explanation.  It  shows,  that,  when  the 
company  settled  with  "No.  2,103"  "^  the 
middle  of  March  for  the  work  done  in  February, 
there  was  no  money  due  him.  He  had  earned 
$23.13,  which  does  not  seem  to  be  "  at  the 
rate  of  $2.50  to  $4  a  day,"  but  it  was  all 
soaked  up  by  the  charges  the  company  had. 
against  him  for  oil,  tool-sharpening,  fuel,  and 
the  "  store.  "  The  company  owed  him  $23.13; 
he  owed  the  company  $23.13.  They  were 
"  even,"  and  he  had  the  priceless  privilege  of 

*  There  is  no  way  of  making  money  out  of  these  poor  men  too  small 
for  their  rich  employers.  They  charged  the  miners  last  year  a  cent  a  ton 
for  sharpening  their  tools.  On  the  annual  production  of  1,000,000  to 
1,500,000  tons,  this  would  yield  the  company  $10,000  to  $15,000  for  the 
services  of  blacksmiths,  who  could  not  cost,  with  all  allowances  for  fuel, 
shops,  etc.,  more  than  $2,000  altogether.  This  was  a  profit  of  $8,000  to 
$12,000  to  the  company  on  an  investment  of  $2,000,  and  their  poor  men 
had  to  furnish  both  the  investment  and  the  profit!  This  is  an  illustration 
which  will  serve  to  make  clear  what  is  meant  by  "  high  finance,"  and  why 
it  is  that  so  many  are  poor,  while  a  few  are  so  rich.  Before  going  back  to 
work  after  the  recent  lock-out,  the  men  succeded  in  getting  this  charge  for 
smithy  reduced  one-half,  but  they  still  have  to  pay  the  company  thou- 
san4s  of  dollars  a  year,  besides  paying  all  it  costs  to  sharpen  their  tools. 


44  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

delving  again  into  the  depths  to  see  if  he  could 
keep  in  that  nicely  balanced  state  of  impecu- 
niosity,  so  full  of  heartening  stimulation  and 
encouragement  to  the  free  citizen. 

MINER'S  ABSTRACT. 

SPRING  VALLEY  COAL  COMPANY. 

Spring  Valley,  III.,  Mar.  12,  'Sg. 
Ck.  2,103. 

Cr. 

Tons  25. 14 $23 .  13 

Yds.  Entry 

Days'  Labor 

Extra 

$23.13 

Dr. 

Collections $0 .  25 

House  Rent 

Cash 

Powder 

Tools 

Smithing 0.26 

Fuel 3.20 

Oil,  etc 

Weigliman 0.26 

Store 19.16 

Sometimes  several  men  work  as  partners  in 
one  room  in  the  mine,  and  send  out  their 
joint  product  in  the  same  cars  and  marked  with 
the  same  number.     This  number,  or  "  miner's 


BOOMING   THE   TOWN.  45 

check,"  as  it  is  called,  will  in  such  cases  repre- 
sent the  earnings  of  two  or  three  men.  I  have 
before  me  several  such  partnership  numbers 
with  statements  of  their  earnings  for  several 
months.  They  show  amounts  of  $127,  $138, 
$116,  earned  by  four  men;  of  $47,  $60,  $65, 
earned  by  two  men,  showing  average  monthly 
earnings  of  $24.33  each.  The  miners  told  me 
that  the  large  earnings  reported  by  the  mine- 
owners  as  made  by  some  of  their  men,  are 
shown  by  representing  the  amount  of  one 
of  these  partnership  checks  to  be  the  earn- 
ings of  one  man.  At  the  conference  at  Joliet 
in  September,  1889,  between  the  miners  and 
mine-owners,  under  the  auspices  of  the  special 
commission  appointed  by  the  governor  of  Illi- 
nois, one  of  the  mine-owners  produced  a 
statement  of  this  kind,  seeming  to  prove  that 
his  men  were  making  very  large  earnings.  But 
it  happened  that  some  of  the  men  present 
knew  the  number,  and  were  able  to  point  out 
that  the  earnings  paraded  as  specimens  of  what 
a  miner  could  do,  were  in  truth  the  combined 
wages  of  several  miners  in  partnership,  and 
they  thus  successfully  exposed  the  misrepre- 
sentation. 

Still,  these  were  days  of  hope  and  growth. 
The  miners  knew  that  the  opening  years  of  a 


46  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

new  mine  were  not  its  best;  that  there  were  in 
this,  as  always  in  new  enterprises,  all  sorts 
of  hitches,  accidents  and  disappointments. 
Things  would  mend,  and  they  could  afford  to 
wait,  for  the  advertisements  of  the  coal  com- 
pany promised  them  "  steady  employment," 
and  the  great  and  good  men  who  had  opened 
the  mines  and  with  others  had  built  the  North- 
Western  track  to  the  mines  "  for  a  supply  of 
fuel  for  the  road  and  the  West  and  Northwest 
tributary  to  it,"  were  not  triflers. 

So  after  all,  notwithstanding  the  trials  and 
disappointments,  it  was  a  happy  community 
which  began,  in  December,  1888,  to  get  ready 
to  celebrate  Christmas,  day  of  peace  on  earth, 
and  good  will  among  men. 


CHAPTER  V. 

DOOMING  THE  TOWN. 

The  "  boomers  "  were  getting  their  Christ- 
mas present  ready  for  the  miners,  merchants, 
parsons,  teachers,  workingmen,  who  had 
added  to  their  millions  by  coming  to  Spring 
Valley. 

On  a  December  afternoon,  without  previous 
warning,  the  miners  in  shafts  Nos.  3  and  4 
were  told  to  take  away  their  tools  at  the  close 
of  the  day,  and  not  return,  as  that  part  of  the 
mine  would  be  closed  until  further  notice. 

This  threw  about  700  men,  one-third  of  the 
working  population  of  the  town,  out  of  work 
for  an  unknown  time  at  the  beginning  of  winter 
— men,  too,  who  had  been  earning  only  just 
enough  to  keep  body  and  soul  together,  no 
more. 

Without  a  word  of  warning!  There  was  no 
strike,  no  whisper  of  strike;  the  men  had 
been  working  faithfully,  digging  the  coal  ac- 
cording to  orders,  and  taking  the  pay  as  agreed. 

Thus  the   gentlemen  of   many  millions   sit- 

(47) 


48  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

ting  under  brilliantly  illuminated  Christmas 
trees  in  jo}'Ous  mansions  in  Chicago,  Erie, 
St.  Paul,  New  York,  by  a  click  of  the  telegraph 
make  a  present  of  midwinter  disemployment 
to  one  third  of  "  their  "  town. 

Without  notice!  This  has  a  familiar  look 
again.  It  is  the  Pennsylvania  plan,  which  is 
being  introduced  into  the  industries  of  the  free 
West.  Like  the  means,  some  of  which  have 
been  hinted  at,  by  which  the  wages  of  the 
miners  were  cut  into  and  cut  down,  this  unan- 
nounced stoppage  of  work  is  one  of  the  well- 
worn  practices  of  railroad  and  coal-mining 
combinations  of  Pennsylvania  to  "  break"  in 
the  men.  The  congressional  report  on  the 
labor  troubles  in  Pennsylvania  in  1888  de- 
scribes this  Pennsylvania  method.      (Page  5-) 

"  Then,  again,  as  no  coal  mine  can  be 
successfully  worked  except  full-handed — that 
is,  with  a  full  complement  of  experts  and 
laborers  —  the  railroads,  which  both  mine  and 
carry  coal,  always  retain  an  abundant  supply 
of  holp  on  hand,  which  help  they  purposely 
keep  in  ignorance  as  to  when  operations  will  be 
suspended,  and  for  how  long.  If  the  knowl- 
edge of  when  they  shall  be  required  to  work 
short  time  or  no  time  were  not  deliberately 
withheld    from    the    miners    and    laborers   till 


DOOMING   THE   TOWN.  49 

the  last  moment,  they    would    doubtless  seek 
employment  elsewhere." 

In  this  way  the  dooming  of  the  town  began, 
and  we  will  see  it  unfolding  step  by  step  by  a 
perfectly  planned  scheme,  just  as  clearly  as  we 
saw  the  booming  of  the  town  progress  by  act 
on  act  of  unerring  "  commercial  sagacity,"  to 
the  great  profit  of  the  "  sagacious." 

Why  the  men  must  quit  work,  they  never 
knew;  why  the  "  steady  employment"  promised 
them  so  disastrously  ceased,  they  were  not  told. 

The  Spring  Valley  Gazette  giving  the  news 
of  the  shut-down  in  its  issue  of  January  3d, 
gave  no  reason,  but  spoke  of  it  as  "  tempo- 
rary. " 

Subsequent  events  have  furnished  a  ghastly 
commentary  on  its  concluding  remark:  "  It  is 
consoling  to  hear  the  more  sensible  men  speak 
with  confidence  of  the  ruling  power  here  in 
which  they  have  implicit  belief." 

The  generosity  of  the  remainder  of  the  men 
still  at  work,  induced  them  to  share  their  work 
with  the  unemployed,  so  that  for  the  rest  of 
the  winter  three  families  had  to  live  on  the 
wages  that  before  had  not  been  enough  for 
two.  The  promise  was  made  by  the  com- 
pany, that  the    suspension    of  work   would  be 

but  temporary,  and  that  all  should  soon  have 
4 


50  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

full  employment  again.  The  whole  popula- 
tion staggered  through  that  winter  as  best 
they  could.  The  company  would  not  give 
them  work  nor  help,  but  it  fed  them  with 
words  of  hope,  which  kept  them  from  going 
elsewhere.  The  people  asked  for  bread,  and 
you  gave  them  paragraphs  like  these: 

"  The  indications  are  that  the  output  at  the 
mines  will  soon  be  increased.  " — Spring  Valley 
Gazette,  January  3,  1889. 

"  All  the  miners  in  this  city  are  now  having 
full  work  —  not  full  time,  of  course  —  but,  if  the 
present  kind  of  weather  keeps  on,  they  soon 
will  have." — Spring  Valley  Gazette,  January 
10,  1889. 

"  Spring  Valley,"  said  the  Gazette  of  Janu- 
uary  17th,  "  is  merely  taking  a  little  doze,  pre- 
paratory to  big,  rushing  business  next  fall,"  and 
on  January  24th,  "The  day  is  not  far  distant 
when  more  business  will  be  done  in  Spring 
Valley  than  was  ever  before." 

April  25,  1889,  the  Gazette  announced  that 
the  "  Spring  Valley  Coal  Co.  had  opened  a 
rail  coal  yard  in  Chicago,"  and  that  was  hailed 
by  the  desperate  people  as  certainly  good  evi- 
dence that  "  steady  employment  "  was  coming 
again. 

Four    days    later,    the    next    stroke    in    the 


DOOMING   THE   TOWN.  5  I 

Dooming  of  the  Town  fell.  On  Monday, 
April  29th,  the  men  in  the  m.ines  were  told, 
that,  when  they  quit  work  for  the  day,  they 
could  take  out  their  tools,  as  the  mines  would 
be  closed  until  further  notice.  In  one  after- 
noon, again  without  previous  notice,  all  the 
miners  of  the  town  were  deprived  of  their 
livelihood.  They  had  not  struck;  they  had 
not  asked  for  any  increase  in  wages  ;  they  had 
made  no  new  demands  of  any  kind  upon  their 
employers.*  Simultaneously  with  the  closing 
of  the  mines,  the  company's  store  was  closed. 
The  company  did  not  intend  that  any  of  its 
groceries  should  help  to  feed,  nor  any  of  its 
woolens  warm,  the  people.  No  explanation 
was  vouchsafed  as  to  when  the  mines  would  be 
re-opened.  The  men  were  simply  told  to 
take  out  their  tools  at  the  close  of  the  day, 
and  not  come  back  until  they  were  bid.  They 
were  locked  out.  It  was  a  strike,  but  it  was  a 
strike  of  millionaires  against  miners.  It  was  a 
strike  of  dollars  against  men  ;  of  dollars  which 
could   lie   idle   one  year,  two   years,  longer  if 


*  Report  on  the  Coal-Miners'  Strike  and  Lock-Out  in  Northern  Illi- 
nois, by  J.  M.  Gould  and  Kred.  H.  Wines,  special  commissioners  appointed 
by  the  governor,  August,  i88g,  page  5. 

"The  present  suspension,"  said  the  commissioners  of  the  State, 
"assumes  more  the  form  of  a  strike  at  Streator  and  Hraidwood,  but  of  a 
lock-out  in  the  vicinity  of  l.a  Salle,  especially  at  Spring  Valley,  where  the 
miners  were  notified  to  take  their  tools  out,  and  have  not  had  any  terms 
offered  them  on  which  the  company  is  willing  again  to  employ  them." 


52  A   STRIKE   OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

necessary,  and  be  dollars  still,  against  men 
who  began  to  fade  into  nothingness  the  next 
day.  It  was  a  strike  of  rich  men  against  poor 
men.  It  was  a  strike  in  violation  of  every 
pledge,  tacit  and  expressed,  which  these  rich 
men  had  given  when  they  built  their  railroad, 
and  sold  the  land,  and  opened  the  mines,  and 
called  in  the  men  from  other  work  far  and  near. 
It  was  a  strike  which  brought  woe  and  want 
upon  innocent  thousands  for  the  sake  of  extra 
profits  on  stocks  ajid  bonds.  To  "  make  more 
money,"  disease  and  starvation  were  invited  to 
come  to  Spring  Valley,  and  they  came. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  GHOST  OF  STARVED  ROCK  WALKS 
ABROAD. 

The  people  who  had  been  digging  your 
coal,  buying  your  lots,  supporting  your  dis- 
employed,  making  business  for  your  railroad, 
began  to  starve  at  once.  The  men  scattered 
all  over  the  country  in  search  of  work,  and  the 
women  with  their  babies  took  to  the  roads  to 
beg.  Within  a  month  the  local  papers  an- 
nounced that  two-thirds  of  the  men  had  left  in 
search  of  employment,  and  that  it  had  been 
necessary  to  make  an  organized  appeal  to  the 
people  of  the  country  for  help. 

At  once  the  little  items  in  the  "  local  and 
otherwise  "  columns  of  the  Spring  Valley  pa- 
pers showed  by  dozens  how  the  people  began 
to  feel  the  whip  of  want. 

"  Andrew  Kerwick  started  off  last  week  to 
seek  employment  elsewhere." 

"  The  Henning  Hotel,  run  by  Mrs.  John 
Dixon,  was  shut  up  by  chattel  mortgage  fore- 
closure Friday  for  $1,200  due  the  Spring  Val- 

(.■;3) 


54  A   STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

ley   Coal   Company  for    groceries    out  of  the 
company's  store. " 

"  Rumors  that  '  Mr.  So-and-so  has  closed 
up'  are  getting  numerous." 

"  M.  L.  Leffman  has  moved  his  store  from 
this  city  to  Joliet.  " 

"  All  the  freight  trains  have  been  taken  off 
the  Chicago  &  North-Western  Railroad  enter- 
ing this  city  but  one." 

"  The  mining  situation  looks  very  gloomy. 
At  the  Joliet  meeting  the  mine-owners  showed 
by  their  absence  that  they  did  not  want  to 
discuss  the  question  (with  the  miners).  *  * 
An  all  summer's  idleness  is  probable." 

"  Tuesday  W.  T.  Plumb  took  down  his  big 
watch  sign,  and  packed  up  his  stock  of  watches, 
jewelry,  etc.,  and  shipped  them  to  Tiskilwa, 
whither  he  went  the  same  day  to  open  his  new 
store." 

"  Considerable  firewood  from  over  the  river 
[there  was  coal  everywhere  beneath  them,  but 
they  were  forbidden  to  dig  it]  is  being  hauled 
into  town." 

"  Italian  miners  from  this  city  have  been 
asking  for  help  from  people  living  on  the  south 
side  of  the  river."  This  only  two  weeks  after 
the  shut-down,  and  there  are  no  thriftier,  more 
faithful    workmen     than     the    Italians.      They 


GHOST   OF   STARVED    ROCK   WALKS.        55 

could  have   saved   if  any  workman   could,  and 
the  last  thing  any  workman  will  do  is  to  beg. 

"  Many  Italians  have  left  town  for  the  iron 
mines  of  Michigan,"  two  weeks  after  the  lock- 
out. 

"  It  is  estimated  that  at  least  two-thirds  of 
the  male  population  have  left  towMi  to  seek 
work  elsewhere."  This  was  four  weeks  after 
the  lock-out. 

"  Tuesday,  the  Miners'  National  Progressive 
Union  sent  wagons  out  from  this  city  in  all 
directions  asking  for  aid  for  the  miners  and 
their  families."  This  action  by  the  associated 
miners  of  the  town  —  only  four  weeks  after 
the  shut-down  —  shows  how  poorly  paid  the 
whole  body  had  been,  how  they  had  been 
weakened  by  their  winter  of  self-sacrifice,  and 
how  quickly  the  siege  of  starvation  made  itself 
felt. 

During  the  dreadful  months  that  followed, 
when  thousands  of  women  and  children  and 
the  men,  who  could  not  get  work,  lived  or 
more  correctly,  starved  on  twenty-four  cents' 
worth  of  flour,  meal,  etc.,  a  week,  the  public 
never  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing  that  one 
dollar  or  one  word  of  sympathy  or  regret 
came  from  you.  Consider  such  a  case  as  that 
of  Mrs.  Mike  M .      She  has  seven  children. 


56  A   STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

Her  husband,  locked  out.  went  as  far  away  as 
the  coal  mines  of  Missouri  for  work,  but  found 
it  at  last  at  Stanton,  in  this  State.      During  his 
absence  she  felt  the  hour  of  her  confinement 
approaching.      She    sent    for    a    doctor.      He 
refused  to  come.      But   baby  came,   although 
the     doctor    wouldn't,    and,   in    this    hour    of 
supreme  trial  of  womanhood,  she  was  alone  — 
unless    God    was    there.      A    kindly   neighbor 
came  in  later  and  helped  her.      As  she  told  me 
this,  sitting  sick  and  forlorn  in  a  room  in  which 
the   furniture   and  wall    paper  seemed   soaked 
with  misery  and  malaria,  she  was  shaking  with 
ague.      Her   baby  was   a  fortnight  old,  but  up 
to  that  moment  she  had  had  neither  medicine 
nor  a  doctor.     The  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St. 
Paul  Railroad  sent  supplies  and  medicines  and 
physicians  to  its  suffering  miners  at  Braceville, 
but  that  is  not  your  kind  of  political  economy. 
Not   only  did  the  company   do   nothing  to 
alleviate    this    misery,   part  of    the  tactics   of 
money-making,  but,  on  the  contrary,  through 
your  spokesman,  you  threw  public  ridicule  and 
reproach  on  those  who  came  forward  to  mend 
the  lives  you  had  broken.      In  his  public  letter 
tothegovernor  of  September  25th,  your  spokes- 
man characterized  the  appeals  which  had  been 
made  to  the  country  at  large  for  aid  as  "  false- 


GHOST   OF    STARVED    ROCK   WALKS.        57 

hood  and  slander,  perhaps  without  a  parallel 
in  the  industrial  history  of  the  country.  "  In  his 
letter  to  the  Chicago  Times  of  October  8th  he 
said,  referring  to  Mayor  Cregier's  visit  to  Spring 
Valley: 

"  And  yet  high  officials  in  your  city,  men 
who  make  laws  as  well  as  those  whose  duty  it 
is  to  execute  them,  can  find  time,  under  the 
cloak  of  '  sweet  charity,'  to  sanction  the  law- 
less condition  referred  to  when  within  sight  of 
their  office  windows,  or  within  one  ward  of 
your  city,  more  genuine  cases  of  destitution 
and  misery  can  be  found  than  could  be  found 
in  twenty  Spring  Valleys." 

This  word  "  starvation  "  is  obnoxious  to  you 
and  other  gentlemen  who  cut  off  the  livelihood 
of  working  people  by  light-fingering  the 
"  laws  "  of  supply  and  demand.  It  grates  on 
your  ears.  You  laugh  at  it  over  your  weary 
and  heavy-laden  dinner  tables.  You  pooh- 
pooh  it  when  it  gets  into  the  newspapers  or 
the  appeals  for  relief.  You  quiet  your  con- 
science, and  the  generosity  of  others,  by  de- 
claring that  there  is  no  want,  that  the  people 
have  saved  piles  of  money  out  of  the  munifi- 
cent wages  you  have  paid  them,  and  that  they 
could  all  go  to  work  to-morrow,  and  "  earn  $2 
and  $3  a  day  if  it  were  not  that  they  preferred 


58  A   STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

eharity  to  work."     This  is  a  mightily  impor- 
tant point  with  you,  and  you  maintain  it  with 
a  stiff  upper  lip.      Everywhere  this  sort  of  talk 
scattered  by  you  through  parlors,  bank  direct- 
ors' rooms,  counting-houses,   and  among  your 
acquaintances,  has  tremendous    influence.      It 
buttresses   you   and  your  kind  of  "  business" 
men  in  their  determination  to   believe  that  the 
workingmen     can    neither    do    good    nor    feel 
wrongs.      It  shuts    many  hands    and    pockets 
ready  to  contribute   to   the  relief  which  partly 
defeated  your  attempts  to  make  the  people  so 
faint   with    want  that   their    "  supply "    would 
yield  to  your   "  demand."      Success  in  making 
the  public  believe  the  mystery  that  your  work- 
ingmen continue   to    have  plenty  to   eat   after 
you    have   cut  off  all   their   means  of   buying 
food   is   vital   to   you,  and   you   know    it   well. 
The   public  endures  the  things  that  are  being 
done  all  over  this  country  to  whole  communi- 
ties of  workingmen,  only   because    it  does  not 
understand  them.      Even   when   they  are   ex- 
plained, it  cannot  believe  that  the  strong  would 
so    ill   use  the   weak.      It  has  not  come  to  see 
that   our  market  morality   has   overgrown   all 
other    morality,    and   has  brought    men    who 
would  be  good  but  for  business,  down  to  the 
depravity  of  believing  that  "  the  Golden  Rule  " 


GHOST   OF   STARVED    ROCK   WALKS.         $9 

is  that  any  rule  is  right  which  puts  gold  into 
their  pockets. 

There  is  one  fatal  flaw  in  your  nervous  talk 
about  these  poor  people  preferring,  as  you 
say,  charity  to  work.  They  worked  up  to  the 
last  minute  you  kept  your  mines  open.  It 
was  only  when  you  drove  them  out  that  they 
began  to  beg.  If  you  had  any  sense  of  shame, 
even  any  sense  of  humor,  grim  as  it  would  be 
here,  you  would  not  make  yourselves  targets 
for  public  indignation  and  ridicule,  by  throw- 
ing slanders  so  obviously  untrue  at  the  heads 
of  the  people  who  came  to  Spring  Valley  to 
get  the  "  steady  work  "  you  advertised,  and 
who  worked  until  you  stopped  them. 

If  the  world  had  not  learned  by  the  experi- 
ence of  thousands  of  years  how  the  oppressor 
hardens  his  heart  at  the  sight  of  the  suftering 
he  creates,  it  would  be  impossible  to  under- 
stand your  cynical  denial  that  any  distress  fol- 
lowed your  refusal  of  all  work  to  the  entire 
community  of  5,ooo  people  at  Spring  Valley. 
No  one  but  you  who  are  fortified  behind 
hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  would  dare  to 
deny  it.  No  one  but  those  who  were  to  make 
money  out  of  it  would  want  to  deny  it.  Over 
against  these  vain  attempts  to  ignore  the 
palpable  truth  is  the  testimony  of  a  cloud  of 


60  A   STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

witnesses,  reporters  of  newspapers  of  all  shades 
of  political  and  economic  belief,  clergymen, 
mayors  of  the  surrounding  cities,  the  neighbor- 
ing farmers,  the  editors  of  the  local  journals, 
representatives  of  the  State  government,  and 
impartial  observers  who  visited  Spring  Valley 
to  see  with  their  own  eyes  the  extent  of  the 
distress  in  order  that  they  might  report  upon 
it  to  those  who  wanted  to  help  the  stricken 
people. 

"  How  can  you  tell  when  a  family  is  in 
want?"  was  asked  of  the  wife  of  a  merchant  of 
Spring  Valley,  who  has  done  what  she  could 
out  of  the  ruin  of  her  husband's  business  to 
help  those  still  more  unfortunate. 

"  There's  many  ways  of  telling;  although 
some  of  these  poor  people  would  rather  die 
than  let  their  wants  be  known.  When  the 
neighbors  see  the  little  children  of  a  family 
hanging  about  the  door,  crying  silently  hour 
by  hour,  they  know  well  enough  what's  the 
matter.  There's  never  a  bite  in  that  house, 
you  may  be  sure." 

The  Chicago  Daily  Nezvs,  in  a  telegram  from 
Spring  Valley  of  June  ist,  said,  a  month  after 
the  lock  out : 

The  situation  of  the  locked-out  miners  of  Spring  Valley  has 
been  getting  worse  every  day.     What  money  they  had  is  nearly 


GHOST    OF   STARVED    ROCK   WALKS.        6l 

spent.  Friday  morning  a  committee  of  miners  was  sent  to 
Chicago  to  solicit  aid.  The  committee  took  along  a  circular 
to  present  to  the  various  labor  organizations,  making  a  strong 
appeal  for  aid  for  starving  families. 

The  paragraphs  given  above  from  the  local 
papers  show  how  simultaneously  the  work 
stopped,  and  the  distress  began.  As  early  as 
June  24th,  a  reporter  of  the  Chicago  Tribune 
telegraphed  from  Spring  Valley: 

About  500  miners'  families  are  being  helped  by  the  relief 
committee  here.  Some  of  the  families  are  dependent  entirely 
on  the  committee  for  support,  and  it  is  poor  support  they  get, 
for  provisions  come  in  slowly.  Aid  to  the  amount  of  $700  or 
.$Soo  has  been  received,  which,  divided  up,  would  be  only  about 
.$12.20  in  seven  weeks  to  a  family,  and  a  family  averages  six  or 
seven  persons.  But  even  this  has  long  ago  been  mostly  given 
out.  One-fourth  of  the  miners  in  town  do  not  know  where 
their  next  meal  is  coming  from. 

Shortly  after  the  shut-down  of  the  mines  a  relief  committee 
was  organized,  who  sent  sub-committees  out  in  all  directions 
with  wagons  through  the  country  seeking  aid.  In  this  they 
were  quite  successful,  the  farmers  contributing  liberally  day 
after  day  and  week  after  week.  Besides  the  committee  wagons, 
private  families  have  scoured  the  country  for  anything  eatable. 
A  farmer  living  about  seven  miles  north  of  town  told  your  cor- 
respondent recently  that  as  many  as  seven  and  eight  parties  had 
been  at  his  farm  begging  in  a  single  day,  and  that  as  high  as 
twenty  had  been  there  in  a  week. 

The  Boston  Herald,  in  its  issue  of  July  27th, 
had  a  dispatch  announcing  that  "  Mayor  Cre- 
gicr  of  Chicago,  Congressman  Frank  Lawler, 
and  other  members  of  the  relief  committee  had 


62  A    STRIKE   Of   millionaires. 

left  Chicago  with  several  car-loads  of  provisions 
and  supplies  for  the  starving  locked-out  coal 
miners  of  Spring  Valley.  There  are  about 
2,000  idle  miners  in  the  district,  making,  with 
their  families,  about  6,000  souls.  The  arrival 
of  the  train  there  this  afternoon  was  greeted 
with  great  demonstrations  of  joy.  Every- 
where there  were  evidences  of  the  most  pinch- 
ing poverty  and  destitution.  Men,  women 
and  children  were  most  scantily  clad  in  the 
cheapest  of  materials,  and  there  was  a  great 
dearth  of  foot-gear  among  them.  Their  faces 
bore  unmistakable  evidences  of  pinching  hun- 
ger. These  people  have  been  locked  out 
nearly  three  months,  and  are  absolutely  on  the 
verge  of  starvation." 

Besides  the  tons  of  provisions,  Mayor  Cre- 
gier  brought  with  him  a  check  for  $1,562, 
which  he  presented  to  TreasurerWilliam  Scaife, 
of  the  Miners'  District  Organization. 
■  "  I  come,"  the  mayor  said,  "  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  people  of  Chicago,  who  never 
hear  of  want  without  doing  all  in  their  power 
to-relieve  it.  " 

The  Spring  Valley  correspondent  of  the 
Chicago  Tribune  telegraphed,  August  6th: 
"  By  dint  of  close  economy  the  miners  manage 
to  get  enough  to  live  on.      Many  of  their  fam- 


Ghost  of  starved  rock  walks.     63 

ilies  have  only  flour  and  a  little  salt  pork  from 
one  week's  end  to  another.  Many  of  them  do 
not  taste  fresh  meat  from  one  Sunday  to 
another." 

In  an  interview  with  a  reporter  at  Spring- 
field, of  the  Chicago  Tribune,  in  July,  Secre- 
tary Wines  said:  "  At  Spring  Valley  in  partic- 
ular, the  apparent  destitution  greatly  impressed 
me.  There  are  no  gardens  there,  and  few  cows, 
pigs,  or  chickens.  The  town  presents  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  funeral.  It  is  too  quiet  even  for 
Sunday.  The  miners  there  cannot  be  said  to 
be  on  a  strike  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term. 
They  were  ordered  out  before  they  had  a 
chance  to  strike." 

The  New  York  World  oi  Saturday,  August 
3d,  printed  the  following  special  dispatch  from 
Spring  Valley: 

Her  Twin  Babes  Died  of  Starvation. 

[special  to  the  world.] 
Spring  Valley,  111.,  Aug.  2.— One  of  the  saddest  cases  of 
destitution  among  the  striking  miners  on  record  here  came  to 
the  notice  of  a  World  correspondent  to-day.  It  was  the  case 
of  a  mother,  the  wife  of  one  of  the  locked-out  miners,  who  lost 
her  two  babes,  twins,  for  the  want  of  sufficient  nourishment  to 
foster  them.  Being  in  the  poorest  circumstances,  and  living  off 
such  charity  as  was  given  by  the  relief  committee,  she  had  the 
misery  of  seeing  her  babes  die  of  starvation  while  holding  them 
to  her  batren  breast. 

When  the  attention  of  Dr.  John  H.  Ranch, 


64  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

• 

secretary  of  the  State  Board  of  Health,  was 
called  to  this,  he  had  only  this  to  say:  "  That 
it  was  a  thing  frequently  found  even  in  more 
prosperous  communities" — a  singular  product 
of  American  prosperity. 

In  a  special  article  in  its  issue  of  August  3d, 
the  New  York  World,  under  the  headlines 
"  Dying  to  Escape  Slavery  —  that's  what  the 
coal,  miners  of  northern  Illinois  are  doing,"  — 
said  of  the  whole  field: 

"  There  have  been  scores  of  deaths  among 
young  and  old,  since  the  strike;  nearly  every 
one  of  them  directly  traceable  to  lack  of  food, 
medicine,  or  medical  attendance." 

In  their  report  to  the  governor,  Messrs. 
Gould  and  Wines  say  of  the  state  of  things  up 
to  August:  * 

"  It  remains  to  speak  of  the  suffering  caused 
by  the  strike.  It  is  real  and  it  is  great.  There 
have  been  no  actual  cases  of  starvation.  Miners 
freely  divide  with  each  other,  and  it  is  warm 
weather,  when  vegetables  are  plenty.  But 
there  have  been  cases  in  which  families  have 
lived  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time  on  vegetables 
alone.  There  has  been  suffering,  also,  in  sick- 
ness, for  want  of  medicines  and  proper  medi- 

*  Report  of  the  Coal-Miners'  Strike  and  Lock-Out  in  Northern  Illi- 
nois, by  J.  M.  Gould  and  Fred.  H.  Wines,  special  commissioners  ap- 
pointed by  the  governor,  August,  1889,  pages  22-23. 


GHOST    OF   STARVED    ROCK   WALKS.        6 5 

cal  attendance.  It  needs  no  official  investiga- 
tion to  prove  that  ten  thousand  men,  who  have 
been  idle  for  nearly  four  months,  and  who  had 
not  much  money  or  supplies  laid  away,  but 
who  have  families  to  support,  must  be  by  this 
time  in  a  condition  verging  on  destitution. - 
They  do  not  parade  their  suffering;  they  conceal 
it  rather,  especially  from  their  employers,  know- 
ing that  the  operators  rely  upon  this  suffering 
to  bring  them  sooner  or  later  to  terms.  The 
miners  in  this  district,  as  we  have  shown,  were 
receiving  about  $225,000  a  month  in  wages, 
which  would  (after  deducting  one-eighth) 
amount,  by  the  ist  of  September,  to  nearly 
$800,000,  which  they  have  lost;  they  are  that 
much  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  ledger.  What 
they  had,  they  have  been  consuming;  they 
have  been  exhausting  their  credit;  many  of 
them  have  mortgaged  their  homes.  Whether 
they  have  done  right  or  wrong,  this  state  of 
affairs  cannot  last  long.  The  supplies  which 
have  been  sent  them,  generous  as  they  have 
been,  have  been  ridiculously  inadequate  in 
proportion  to  the  number  of  mouths  to  be  fed. 
These  men  do  not  want  charity;  what  they  want 
is  work  and  wages.  If  $7,500  a  day  in  wages 
was  inadequate  for  their  comfort,  and  they  quit 
work  because  it  was  proposed  to  give  them 


66  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

less,  will  less  than  $7,500  a  day  in  charity  be 
sufficient  to  supply  their  needs?  And  is  there, 
can  there  be,  any  hope  of  help  to  this  amount, 
for  any  length  of  time?  The  real  necessity  for 
aid  from  outside  has  been  acknowledged,  at 
least  by  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul 
Railway,  which  has  hired  a  physician  for  its 
rniners  at  Braceville,  and  sent  a  supply  of 
necessaries  for  sick  women  and  children,  to  be 
given  out  by  its  agent,  in  accordance  with  the 
doctor's  recommendation." 

On  August  iitha  car-load  of  provisions  was 
sent  to  Spring  Valley  from  Peoria.  The  New 
York  World  described  the  occurrence  under 
the  heading  :  "  In  Starvation's  Grim  Grip.  "  It 
said  : 

"  One  thousand  men  and  women  in  a  starv- 
ing condition  tramped  down  from  Spring 
Valley  to  the  Rock  Island  depot  at  midnight, 
and  waited  hours  for  a  car-load  of  provisions 
which  was  on  the  way,  accompanied  by  Mayor 
Warner  of  Peoria,  and  members  of  the  relief 
committee  of  that  city.  The  crowd  went  wild 
with  delight  when  they  heard  of  this  relief,  and 
paraded  the  streets  with  torches.  The  mayor 
brought  wnth  him  $400  in  cash,  and  said  that 
Peoria  would  send  ten  more  car-loads,  if  neces- 
sary.    Everybody,  he  said,  had  contributed, 


GHOST   OF    STARVED   ROCK   WALKS.        6/ 

even  to  the  women  who  sell  vegetables  in  the 
city  market.  Part  of  the  provisions  were  dis- 
tributed at  once.  This  makes  the  third  car- 
load of  provisions  that  has  reached  Spring 
Valley  in  thirty  days. "  Three  car-loads  in  a 
month  for  five  hundred  families  ! 

In  the  news  items  circulated  by  the  asso- 
ciated press  was  this  one  dated  at  Galesburg, 
111.,  August  22d: 

Five  Spring  Valley  women,  with  infants  in  their  arms,  came 
here  to  beg  provisions  and  clothing  for  the  families  of  miners 
there.  The  mayor  sent  them  to  a  boarding  house.  They  will 
not  be  suffered  to  beg,  but  a  committee  of  citizens  will  canvass 
the  place  for  them.  They  represent  the  families  of  Spring  Val- 
ley strikers  as  in  a  very  destitute  condition,  and  say  that  the 
women  have  gone  out  in  companies  to  the  leading  cities  of  the 
State  to  beg  for  their  children. 

The  following  paragraph  which  appeared  in 
the  Sentinel,  a  weekly  paper  of  Spring  Valley, 
August  31st,  used  stronger  language  about  the 
"misery"  there  than  any  of  the  preceding, 
and  the  writer  lived  a  daily  witness  of  what  he 
described : 

The  fact  that  the  wives  and  children  of  miners  are  dying  of 
starvation,  right  in  the  garden  of  the  world  and  the  center  of 
the  "land  of  the  brave  and  home  of  the  free,"  is  not  a  very 
consoling  spectacle  for  a  Christian  country  to  present  to  the 
world.  Then,  when  such  suffering,  destitution  and  death,  are 
the  result  of  an  attempt  of  coal  operators,  protected  by  a  tariff 
of  75  cents  a  ton  on  coal,  to  starve  laborers  into  submission  to 


68  A   STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

a  reduction  of  wages,  the  sight  is  one  that  should  forever  damn 
the  system  and  the  soulless  capitalist  that  it  protects. 

The  New  York  World  sent  a  representative 
through  the  northern  Illinois  coal-mining  dis- 
trict, and  in  his  letter  of  August  25th,  he 
describes  what  he  saw  at  Spring  Valley. 
Among  other  things  he  says: 

"  As  we  passed  the  little  cemetery,  with  a 
plain  stone  here  and  there  marking  the  resting- 
places  of  those  who  had  lived  in  better  times, 
I  noticed  that  there  were  many  freshly  dug 
graves,  little  mounds  that  told  of  recent  burials, 
and  empty  graves  yawning  for  an  occupant. 
These  evidences  of  the  lock-out's  fearful  work 
told  a  tale  which  could  not  be  expressed  in 
words.  They  told  of  want  of  food,  medicine, 
medical  care  and  nourishment!         *  *  * 

The  site  of  the  company  houses  at  Spring 
Valley  is  as  inimical  to  the  health  of  the  occu- 
pants as  at  Clarke  and  Coal  Cities.  The  cor- 
poration has  selected,  because  of  its  cheapness, 
the  elevation  which  overhangs  the  Illinois 
River,  on  which  to  erect  the  miners'  houses. 
The  air  of  this  spot  is  impregnated  with  mala- 
ria, from  which  the  residents  are  almost  con- 
tinually suffering.  The  death-rate  of  this  town 
is  large,  even  when  the  mines  are  in  operation, 
and  the  sick-list  is  equal  to  that  of  a  healthier 


GHOST   OF    STARVED    ROCK   WALKS.        69 

town  five  times  its  size.  From  a  cursory  ex- 
amination, it  is  a  low  estimate  to  say  that  seven 
out  of  every  ten  families  are  sick — seriously  so. 
Malarial  fevers,  diphtheria,  cholera  morbus, 
ague  and  pneumonia  form  the  bulk  of  the  ail- 
ments. When  lack  of  medical  care  and  medi- 
cine is  added  to  the  unavoidable  sickness,  is 
it  any  wonder  that  scores  of  men,  women  and 
children  have  found  a  last  resting-place  in  the 
cemetery  since  the  lock-out?  #         *         * 

There  are  1,200  heads  of  families  in  Spring 
Valley  who  have  not  had  a  stroke  of  work 
since  last  May,  and  half  of  these  families  have 
had  nothing  to  eat  except  what  the  charitable 
have  given  them.  Salt  pork,  potatoes  and 
corn-meal,  with  a  little  tea  and  coffee,  have 
been  their  sole  means  of  subsistence  through- 
out the  lock-out.  Such  food  is  unfit  for  sick 
and  delicate  women  and  children  to  eat,  and 
the  cofifin  is  soon  seen  to  leave  the  house. 
*  *  *  Yet    these    poor    people    did 

not  denounce  their  oppressors;  did  not  heap 
maledictions  on  the  heads  of  those  responsible 
for  their  condition.  *  *  * 

"  The  policy  of  the  Spring  Valley  Company 
has  been  to  always  keep  a  surplus  of  miners 
on  hand,  and  employ  more  men  than  were 
actually  needed,  so  that  the  company  would 


70  A   STRIKE   OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

sell  more  goods  at  its  '  truck  '  store,  rent  more 
of  its  houses,  keep  the  men  so  poor  that  they 
would  be  unable  to  resist  the  reduction  in 
wages,  and  create  discord  in  the  ranks  when  a 
strike  occurred.  A  grave  moral  responsibility 
rests  on  the  heads  of  the  mine-owners,  who 
have  inveigled  married  men  to  this  barren 
spot  and  now  cast  them  off  to  starve  with  their 
wives  and  children.       #       *       * 

"  After  dinner  I  took  a  walk  with  members 
of  the  relief  committee  through  the  desolate 
place.  The  family  of  Sylvester  McDonnell 
numbers  fourteen,  from  grandparents  to  grand- 
children, and  they  occupied  two  three-roomed 
houses.  They  were  drawn  up  in  battle  array 
outside  their  home  as  I  approached  to  talk 
with  their  grandfather.  They  were  in  rags 
and  tatters,  pinched  faces  and  hollow  cheeks 
showing  that  the  cupboard  had  often  been 
empty.  'I  fought  for  the  negroes,'  exclaimed 
the  old  man,  '  and  now  I  am  fighting  for  my- 
self and  the  folks.  It's  the  principle  of  the 
thing  I  am  starving  for.  I  am  an  American 
citizen,  and  I  claim  the  right  to  educate  my 
children  as  Americans  should  be  educated. 
We  offered  to  go  to  work  here  for  a  year  with- 
out a  cent  if  the  company  would  only  keep  us 
in    clothing    and   food,    send  our    children    to 


GHOST   OF   STARVED    ROCK   WALKS.        J I 

school,  and  pay  our  rent  if  we  didn't  live  in 
one  of  their  houses.  They  wouldn't  do  it, 
and  that  shows  we  cannot  live  on  the  reduced 
wages  without  begging  or  going  into   debt.'  " 

At  about  the  same  time,  Father  Hunting- 
ton, of  New  York,  of  the  order  of  the  Holy 
Cross,  who  devotes  his  life  to  work  among  the 
poor,  visited  the  mining  regions  on  an  errand 
of  mercy.  He  was  greatly  moved  by  what  he 
saw,  and  gave  it  eloquent  and  indignant  utter- 
ance. In  an  interview  in  the  Chicago  Ncivs, 
he  said: 

"  It  is  bad  enough  everywhere  I  went,  but 
it  is  worse  at  Spring  Valley  than  elsewhere. 
But  even  there  the  poverty-stricken  inhabitants 
are  not  like  the  poor  I  am  used  to  seeing  in 
New  York.  There  is  no  whining;  the  people 
show  intelligence  and  pride;  even  hunger  has 
not  debased  their  feelings,  as  one  might  ex- 
pect. I  am  used  to  scenes  of  want,  but  what 
I  saw  at  Spring  Valley  was  different.  It  was 
more  pitiful  than  anything  I  ever  witnessed 
before.  I  went  among  the  cottages.  They 
are  nice,  and  are  surrounded  by  pretty  lawns 
and  gardens,  but  the  awful  poverty  within  was 
shocking.  *  *  *  Sickness   is   in- 

creasing, and  the   doctors  told  me  the  people 
were    so     enfeebled    by    long    privation     and 


\ 


72  A    STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

anxiety,  that  an   epidemic  might  break  out  at 
any  moment.      Business  is  utterly  dead.  * 

*  *  What  is   the  outlook?     Well,  it  is 

black  enough.    The  mine-owners  profit  whether 
the  mines  are  operated  or  not." 

To  a  reporter   in  New  York,  Father  Hunt- 
ington said: 

"  I  visited  Spring  Valley.  In  that  town 
there  is  already  cruel  destitution,  and,  unless 
aid  is  sent  them  very  soon,  many  will  die  of 
want  and  the  diseases  induced  by  insufificient 
nourishment.  Even  now  there  is  an  epidemic 
of  diphtheria  among  the  children,  and  much 
ague  among  the  adults,  which  a  few  cents' 
worth  of  quinine  would  have  prevented,  but 
which  could  not  be  obtained.  There  are  be- 
tween five  and  six  thousand  persons  in  the  town, 
and  2,360  are  on  the  relief  list.  The  Company 
has  ordered  the  mines  to  be  shut  down  for  an 
indefinite  period,  and  the  town  will  be  wiped 
out  as  effectually  as  was  Johnstown  by  the 
Conemaugh  fiood.  If  the  people  of  this  coun- 
try desire  to  avert  what  will  be  a  national 
calamity,  they  should  help  those  miners  of 
Spring  Valley  at  once.  *  *  *  My  patriot- 
ism, too,  was  outraged  when  I  found  that  men 
who  had  come  from  England,  a  so-called  effete 
monarchy,  were  compelled  to  labor  under  con- 


GHOST   OF   STARVED    ROCK   WALKS.        73 

ditions  abolished  in  the  country  of  their  birth 

twenty  years  before.     I  found  in  existence  the 

contract  and  the  "truck"  or  store-order  system, 

together  with  monthly  payments." 

September  9th  the  Rev.  John  F.  Power,  the 

Catholic   priest   of  Spring  Valley,   wrote   the 

following  letter  in  answer  to  an  inquiry  from  a 

friend  in  Chicago: 

Spring  Valley,  III.,  September  9. 

Dear  Sir.— In  reply  to  yours  of  the  7th,  asking  a  statement 
from  me  as  to  the  condition  of  my  people,  I  desire  to  say  that 
fully  one-half  of  them  are  still  dependent  on  outside  charity  for 
the  necessaries  of  life.  Most  of  the  men  are  away  looking  for 
work.  Some  succeed  at  once,  but  it  takes  at  least  a  month  to 
realize  any  cash  to  send  home  to  wife  and  little  ones.  Mean- 
while their  families  are  in  a  precarious  condition,  even  when 
sickness  spares  them.  I  am  going  to  appeal  in  person,  in  such 
parishes  as  I  can  obtain  permission,  to  the  charitable  for  aid  for 
my  congregation,  beginning  ne.xt  Sunday  in  the  cathedral  parish, 
Peoria.  I  have  upward  of  300  pupils  in  the  sisters'  school. 
Besides  maintaining  the  school,  we  must  do  what  we  can  to 
clothe  the  children  coming  on  cold  weather.  This  is  why  I  go 
abroad  begging  as  the  only  alternative  to  closing  the  school 
and  sending  away  the  sisters.  John  F.  Power. 

From  then  until  the  end  of  the  lock-out 
Father  Power  spent  every  Sunday  in  "  going 
abroad  begging"  in  more  prosperous  parishes, 
for  the  funds  with  which  to  keep  the  children 
alive  and  the  schools  open. 

The  writer  of  this  story  went  to  Spring 
Valley  September  3d,  to  learn  at  first  hand  the 


74  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

facts  of  the  destitution,  and,  as  the  result  of 
his  observations,  published  an  appeal  for  help 
through  the  Chicago  newspapers  and  the 
Associated  Press.      In  it  he  said: 

"  There  is  greater  need  than  ever  of  help  for 
the  starving  men,  women  and  children  of 
Spring  Valley,  in  this  State. 

"  There  are  thousands  suffering  there  from 
want  of  food,  clothing,  medicine  and  sym- 
pathy. 

"  Most  of  these  sufferers  are  children,  and 
most  of  the  children  are  little  ones. 

"  I  have  just  returned  from  Spring  Valley. 
There,  in  this  great  and  prosperous  State,  and 
in  the  midst  of  harvest-laden  farms  and  rich 
cities,  the  visitor  will  see  a  cemetery  of  the 
living.  Instead  of  the  light  of  health,  there 
shines  in  the  eyes  of  the  men  and  women  the 
phosphorescence  of  decaying  strength,  and 
the  children,  fatally  weakened  by  want,  are 
dying. 

"  There  are  families  where  adults  and  chil- 
dren, grievously  sick,  are  without  medical  at- 
tendance or  medicines,  because  there  is  no 
money  to  pay  for  them." 

September  29th,  after  a  second  visit,  the 
writer  published  a  second  appeal  for  relief,  in 
which  he  said: 


GHOST   OF   STARVED    ROCK   WALKS.        /S 

Among  other  means  of  getting  intelligent  and  unbiased  in- 
formation as  to  the  exact  state  of  things  I  visited  the  Catholic 
school  and  the  public  school,  in  which  together  there  are  over 
600  children,  and  talked   with  the   teachers  and  many   of  the 
children.     The  sisters  who  teach   in  the  Catholic  school  said 
that  their  children  gave  unmistakable   evide\ice  of  not  having 
sufficient  food.     They  were  paler  than  the  year  before,  and  they 
could  not  study  as  well.     Children  would  frequently  fall  asleep 
at  their  desks  from  weakness.     But  so  sturdy  was  their  pride 
and  self-respect  that  it  was  almost  impossible  for  their  teacher 
to  obtain  from  them  any  acknowledgment  that   they  did  not  get 
enough  to  eat  at  home.     Children  who  were  unmistakably  suf- 
fering for   want  of  nourishment   would  even  refuse  food  when 
offered  them  by   their  teacher,   and    in  some    cases    the    sister 
superior  said  when  food  was  taken  by  some   such   child,  it  was 
immediately   rejected  by  the  stomach,  showing  how  far  the  ex- 
haustion of  hunger  had  gone.      One  of  the  teachers  in  the  pub- 
lic school  stated  that  on  her  way  to  the  school  in  the  morning 
she  would  sometimes   meet  as  many  as  a  dozen  of  her  class  out 
with  baskets  going  to  beg.     As  they  saw  her  the  little  things, 
ashamed,  would   try  to  hide   from  sight   until   she  had  passed. 
In  both  schools  numbers   of  the   children    were    insufficiently 
clothed,  little  boys  and  girls  of  the  tenderest  years  having  on 
only  some  light  sack  or  jacket,  with  no  underclothing.     It  was 
a  cold,  bleak  day,  but  many  were  barefoot.     How  the  people 
have  lived  at  all  is  a  mystery.     There  have  been  during  the  last 
four  weeks  ending  September  25th  five  distributions  by  the  relief 
committee — all  in   goods,  no  money  has  been  given  out  —  and 
the  extent   of  this   "charity"   is    sufficiently    indicated    by  the 
statement  taken  from   the  account  of  the  committee  that  each 
family  of  seven,  and  others  in  proportion,  had  received  for  the 
entire  period  of  four   weeks  flour,  meat,  etc.,  to   the  value  of 
$5.88,  or  84  cents'   worth  for  each   person   for  the  whole  four 
weeks.     The  mayor  of  the  city,  the  editor  of  the  Spring  Valley 
Gazette,  the  Congregational   clergyman,   Mr.    Stringer,  all   the 
physicians  of  the  place,  every  one  in  fact  stated  without  qualifi- 
cation that  were  it  not  for  the  relief  from  without  the  people 


^6 


A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 


would  have  starved  and  would  be  starving.  To  live  on  such  an 
allowance  is  to  live  a  life  of  slow  death  by  starvation,  and  the 
faces  of  the  people,  especially  the  little  women  and  little  men, 
show  it.  The  death  rate  shows  it,  and  with  the  first  touch  of 
cold  and  wet  weather  will  show  it  in  terrible  shape  unless  kind- 
lier hearts  come  to  the  rescue. 

The  undertaker,  Mr.  Dyer,  who  has  had  the  largest  number 
of  interments,  had  kept  no  account  of  them,  but,  speaking  from 
memory,  said  that  during  the  last  three  months  he  had  averaged 
five  a  week,  most  of  them  children,  and  most  of  these  cases  of 
diphtheria.  Dr.  Coveneyhas  had  thirty-five  cases  of  this  disease 
in  the  last  ^x"weeks.  The  local  press,  I  was  told,  reported 
seven  deaths  from  diphtheria  last  week.  There  is  a  great  deal  of 
malarial  sickness  among  young  and  old. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  denials,  official  and  other,  it  is  true 
that  these  poor  people,  women  and  children,  have  been  refused 
medicine  and  medical  attendance. 

I  went  to  see  Mrs.  Dennis  M .      She  was  in  bed  shivering 

with  a  chill.  In  her  arms  was  a  little  child  a  few  weeks  old,  who 
had  been  ill  for  several  days  with  inflammation  of  the  lungs  or 
throat,  she  thought,  but  did  not  know.     She  had  sent  for  Dr. 

.      He    had    refused    to    come.      She    then    obtained    an 

order    from    the    town   supervisor    to   Dr.    to  go   at   the 

expense  of  the  county,  as  provided  by  law.  The  doctor  re- 
fused to  go.  The  town  supervisor  then  called  upon  him  in 
person.  The  doctor  refused  to  go.  I  went  to  see  the  doctor, 
and  stated  the  deplorable  situation  of  the  mother  and  child  to 
him.  He  admitted  the  facts  of  the  official  order  to  him,  and  his 
refusal,  and  added:  "I  haven't  gone,  and  I  won't  go."  And  he 
didn't  go*.     I  gave  the  woman  some  of  the  money  sent  me  by 

*  This  statement  having  been   challenged  by  the   doctor   referred  to, 
whose  name  will  —  with  more  mercy  than  he  has  shown  the  sick  poor  — 
be  omitted  here,  there  was  published  in   the  Chicago    Tribune  the  follow- 
ing sworn  statement  by  the  town  supervisor,  Mr.  O'Hara,  showing  that 
orders  given  by  him  in  person  and  in  writing  have  been  disregarded,  and 
the  sick  left  unattended  : 
"  State  of  Illinois,  |_ 
"  Bureau  County.    )' 
"  James  O'Hara,  being  duly  sworn,  deposes  and  says  that  he  called 
on  Dr.  in  person,  and  requested  him  to  visit  Mrs.  M -n,  who  had 


GHOST   OF   STARVED    ROCK    WALKS.        TJ 

Miss ,  and,  when  I  visited  Mrs.  M the  next  day,  she  had 

had  a  doctor  and  some  medicine,  and  knew  for  the  first  time 
what  was  the  matter  with  her  baby,  which  if  it  recovers  owes 
its  life  to  the  dear  lady  in  New  York.  The  father  and  husband 
here  was  locked  out  last  spring,  and  went  away  from  home  to 
seek  work,  and  has  recently  succeeded  in  finding  employment  at 
Clark  City. 

I  visited  Mrs.  Louis  J .     Her  husband,  locked  out  like 

all  the  other  miners,  went  away  for  employment,  and  is  laid  up 
at  Sparling  sick  with  ague,  having  been  able  to  do  but  three 
days'  work  since  spring.  Of  her  four  children  three  are  ill  with 
chills  and  fever,  one  of  these  a  baby  in  the  cradle.     The  last  had 

croup  the  night  before.     She  had  sent  for  Dr.  .     He  had 

refused  to  come,  and  up  to  the  time  I  saw  her  she  had  had 
neither  medicine  nor  medical  attendance. 

"  Why  don't  the  men  go  to  work  instead  of  living  on  char- 
ity.?  "  I'here  were  once  2,500  miners  there.  As  Adjutant- 
General  Vance  states,  there  are  now  but  250  left.  The  rest 
have  gone.  They  have  scattered  themselves  to  the  four  quarters 
for  work.  They  have  gone  as  far  away  as  Wyoming,  Kentucky, 
Tennessee,  Iowa  and  Missouri.  A  short  time  ago  an  agent  of 
the  Union  Pacific  mines,  at  Rock  Springs,  came  to  Spring  Val- 
ley. He  wanted  forty  men.  Ninety  presented  themselves. 
He  took  his  pick,  and  left  fifty  men  to  seek  another  disappoint- 
ment. Ihe  men  are  leaving  every  day,  as  they  get  opportunity. 
They  often  arrive  at  their  destination  to  find  that  they  ha\e 
been  deceived.  They  write  back,  the  postmistress  is  told  by 
their  wives,  that  they  can  sometimes  barely  make  their  board. 


called  at  his  house  for  an  order  for  medical  assistance,  and  that  Dr.  ■ 

refused  to  do  so;   that  the  next  morning  he  called  on  Dr.  again,  and 

asked  him  to  visit  an  aged  couple,  and  again  mentioned  the  case  of  Mrs. 

M n,  and   that  Dr.  still   refused   to  visit  her;   that   on    September 

2Qth  a  Mrs.  M — 1 — n   called    on  him   for  an  order  to  Dr. for  medical 

attendance;   that  he  gave  her  the  order,  and  it  was  ignored  by  Dr. , 

he  refusing  to  render  her  family  medical  attention. 

"  James  O'Hara, 
"  Super  <  isor  of  Hall  Town. 
"  Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  this  second  day  of  October,  i88g. 

"  J.  B.  Davidson, 
"  Police  Magistrate  for  the  City  of  Spring  Valley,  County  and  State  afore- 
said." 


78  A    STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

A  miner  thus  changing  his  place  of  work  frequently  has  to  buy 
new  tools,  costing  from  $15  to  $25.  Still,  the  records  of  the 
postoffice,  which  I  saw,  show  that  the  men  who  are  hunting 
abroad  for  the  means  of  life  for  the  wives  and  children  they  have 
left  behind,  to  face,  unprotected,  the  dangers  of  famine  and 
disease,  are  sending  home  from  $125  to  $200  a  week  in  all. 

County  Agent  Foley,  of  Chicago,  who  had 
done  a  great  deal  to  collect  and  forward  relief, 
received  the  following  letter  which  continues 
the  deplorable  record  into  the  month  of  Oc- 
tober, and  throws  light  on  the  difficulties  which 
the  men  experienced  in  finding  work  else- 
where: 

Spring  Valley,  III.,  Oct.  4. 

Mr.  John  Foley,  Chicago. 

Dear  Sir:  Yours  of  the  3d  inst.  at  hand.  The  car-load  ot 
provisions  sent  by  you  the  2d  has  been  received,  and  is  being  dis- 
tributed to-day. 

iMany  of  our  men  have  gone  in  various  directions  in  search 
of  work.  Some  who  have  gone  in  answer  to  the  many  adver- 
tisements sent  here  for  miners  and  others  who  have  gone  with 
agents  find  that  those  places  are  not  as  represented,  the  condi- 
tions being  such  that  they  could  scarcely  make  their  board,  con- 
sequently they  would  not  be  able  to  send  their  families  any 
assistance.  There  are  now  476  families  being  supplied  by  the 
relief  committee.  There  are  a  great  many  cases  of  sickness, 
mainly  malaria  and  ague,  and  a  few  cases  of  diphtheria.  The 
medicine  sent  by  Mr.  Lloyd  has  done  much  to  relieve  this,  as 
heretofore  it  was  a  hard  matter  to  procure  medicines.  The 
coming  cold  weather  will  greatly  add  to  the  needs  of  all. 

A.  D.  BouRKE,  President. 
Thomas  Brady, 
Secretary  of  the  Miners'  Union. 


GHOST    OF   STARVED    ROCK    WALKS.        79 

The  Hon.  Frank  Lawler,  one  of  the  mem- 
bers of  Congress  from  Chicago,  nobly  gave 
nearly  his  whole  summer  to  investigating  the 
sufferings  and  wrongs  of  the  miners  of  Spring 
Valley,  Braidwood,  and  other  places  in  Illi- 
nois, and  eloquently  and  fearlessly  appealed 
for  relief  and  for  justice  through  the  press, 
public  meetings  and  by  personal  solicitation. 
If  this  was  done  "  for  political  effect  "  so  much 
the  better.  It  is  high  time  the  servants 
of  the  people  sought  to  win  their  favor  by 
serving  them  against  the  ruthless  plutocracy 
which  is  oppressing  them. 

"  Thanks  to  the  human  heart  by  which  we 
live,  thanks  to  its  tenderness,"  the  public 
responded  to  the  appeals  for  help  with  enough 
food,  clothing,  medicine,  and  sympathy  to 
take  off  the  sharpest  edge  of  the  distress, 
though  it  did  not  give  enough  to  save  the 
miners  at  last  from  a  disastrous  and  humiliat- 
ing defeat. 

Why  did  not  this  evidence,  volumes  of  which 
have  been  laid  before  you  by  the  daily  press 
of  all  parties  and  opinions,  melt  your  hearts? 
Has  the  bourbonism  of  the  "  divine  rieht"  of 
buying  cheap  and  selling  dear  become  so  fanat- 
ical that  you  think  you  have  a  right  to  grind 
up  the  very  bodies  of  the  poor   for  "  six  per 


So  A    STRIKE   OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

cent,  on  the  capital" — watered  capital  at  that? 
Have  your  riches  and  your  use  of  agents 
to  deal  with  your  employes  and  customers, 
borne  you  so  far  away  from  the  people 
that  you  do  really  not  believe  that  they 
have  hearts  that  can  ache  as  yours  can,  bodies 
that  can  suffer  as  yours  can?  Don't  you  be- 
Heve  that  they  love  their  wives  and  children 
as  you  do  yours?  that  their  hearts  sink  as 
yours  would,  when,  without  warning,  they  are 
dispersed,  penniless,  into  strange  parts  for 
work,  leaving  wives  and  babies  behind,  per- 
haps to  starve?  Don't  you  believe  that  want 
of  food  weakens  their  bodies  as  it  would 
yours  —  that  hope  and  success  and  sympathy 
are  as  essential  to  their  well-being  as  to  your 
"  finer  "  natures? 

If  you  don't  like  to  lose  one  per  cent,  out 
of  your  six  per  cents.,  how  do  you  think  it 
makes  poor  men  feel  to  have  you  cut  off  all 
their  income?  If  you  like  to  take  your  wives 
and  children  with  you  to  the  sea-shore  or  to 
Europe,  how  do  you  think  a  workman  feels 
when  you  force  him  to  tramp  hundreds  of 
miles  away  from  his  family,  leaving  them  to 
charity,  while  he  hunts  for  work,  as  if  that, 
too,  were  charity?     Is   it  having  three  good 


GHOST   OF    STARVED    ROCK    WALKS.       8l 

meals  a  day  that  has  made  you  believe  that  to 
live  on  twenty-one  cents  worth  of  pork  and 
meal  a  week  is  not  "  starvation  "  ? 


CHAPTER  VII. 

BUYING  BRETHREN  BELOW  COST. 

The  local  press  chronicled  your  lock-out  in  a 
curt  six-line  paragraph,  closing  with  the  state- 
ment that  "  the  wages  for  the  next  year  is  the 
question  now  to  be  decided."     That  was  the 
question,  but  it  was  not  to  be  decided  by  the 
ordinary  and  decent  processes  of  bargaining 
between    two    free     parties.       It    was    to    be 
decided  by  a  commercial  attack  of  the  strong 
upon  the  very  lives  of  the  weak.      These  were 
to  be  made  helpless,  then  asked  to  make  a/r^v 
contract.      You  who  could  live    in  luxury   in- 
definitely  without    giving    employment   took 
employment    away    from    the   workman,  who 
must   die    without   it.      You   took   hope,  too, 
away.      When  you  were  boomers,  you  fed  the 
people  on  hope  in  lieu  of  the  good  wages  you 
had    promised;  but,    when    you  changed  this 
role  and  began  to  play  the  Doomer,  it  was  ne- 
cessary for  success  in  bringing  down  the  people 
that  despair   should  be  added  to  disease  and 
starvation.      Dark  hints  were   circulated  from 

(82) 


BUYING   BRETHREN   BELOW   COST.  83 

headquarters  as  to  what  the  millionaires  had 
done  in  other  cases  and  would  do  in  this.  The 
leader  in  this  war  on  the  workingmen,  it  was 
said,  had  utterly  destroyed  one  mining  town 
which  had  resisted  his  will,  and  he  would  do 
so  here  to  obtain  what  he  wanted.  Mean- 
while what  he  wanted  remained  like  the  secret 
of  the  sphinx  —  uncommunicated.  "  The  Coal 
Company,"  said  the  Spring  Valley  Gazette 
of  May  8th,  "  are  as  yet  non-committal,  and 
have  made  no  offer  to  the  men."  At  a  mass- 
meeting  of  the  miners  June  1st,  the  resolutions 
began  with  this  preamble,  which  corroborates 
the  above:  "WHEREAS,  The  Spring  Valley 
Coal  Company,  have  locked  us  out  since  April 
29th  without  having  given  us  any  information 
why  they  did  so."  The  coal  company's  office 
gazed  out  upon  the  town,  blankly  through  its 
two  great  plate-glass  eyes,  and  made  no  sign. 
The  workingmen  wrote  letters  to  the  company 
asking  when  and  how  they  could  get  work, 
but  could  obtain  no  answer.  They  offered 
arbitration,  but  in  vain.  They  sent  committees 
to  the  office,  but  were  told  that  positive 
instructions  had  been  given  that  the  men 
should  be  dealt  with  only  as  individuals,  never 
again  through  representatives. 

During  all  this  time  the  only  communication 


84  A    STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

vouchsafed  them  was  the  serving  of  eviction 
notices  in  July  on  all  the  families  that  were  liv- 
ing in  the  company's  houses. 

Though  the  eviction  notices  were  served  with 
all  the  due  legal  formalities  required,  the  evic- 
tion did  not  follow.  It  is  an  open  secret  that  the 
then  superintendent  broke  out  into  open  rebel- 
lion against  the  ruthlessness  with  which  the 
company  was  carrying  out  its  policy. 

Not  long  after  he  sold  his  stock,  and  left  the 
service  of  the  company.  Another  reason  for 
the  arrest  of  the  policy  of  evictions  was  that  it 
was  plain  that  public  opinion  was  too  much 
roused  to  submit  to  it.  The  case  of  Spring 
Valley  had  become  a  cause  celcbre.  Things 
that  had  been  done  and  could  have  been  done 
in  the  dark,  it  was  not  safe  to  do  in  the  blaze  of 
publicity  which  now  poured  in  there. 

This  news  item  from  Spring  Valley  of  July 
22d,  illustrates  the  methods  used  to  terrorize 
the  workingman  into  submitting  to  the  com- 
pany's demands.  It  is  a  vivid  picture  of  the 
influence  brought  to  bear  upon  the  men,  as  a 
preliminary  to  asking  them  to  sign  "  free  con- 
tracts," and  throws  a  flood  of  sunshine  on  the 
kindly  means  used  by  "capital"  to  demon- 
strate its  "  harmony  of  interest"  with  labor. 


BUYING   BRETHREN   BELOW    COST.  85 

WII>L,  EVICT  rOLE  MINERS. 


Notices    Already    Served    by    the    Sheriff —  Probabilities    of 
Kesisatnce  by  the  3Ien. 

Spring  Valley,  III.,  July  22. — To-night  nearly  100 notices 
to  vacate  have  been  served  by  the  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company 
upon  the  idle  miners,  and  about  twenty-five  more  will  be  served 
to-morrow.  One  week  from  to-day  eviction  notices  proper  will 
be  served.  Two  weeks  from  to-day  Sheriff  Henderson  and  an 
armed  posse  of  deputies  will  enforce  the  notices  and  turn  all  idle 
miners  out.  There  will  doubtless  be  a  total  of  about  650  per- 
sons thrown  out.  The  coal  company  says  that  the  law  will  be  • 
enforced  to  the  letter,  while  the  miners  will  resist — some  by 
force  some  by  legal  means.  Where  the  miners  will  go  is  a 
mystery.  But  few  have  any  money  to  pay  their  way  to  other 
towns,  and  there  are  not  enough  empty  houses  in  town  to  keep 
them.     The  houses  will  be  boarded  up  as  fast  as  emptied. 

From  April  29th  until  August  23d  your  con- 
temptuous silence  in  the  face  of  all  inquiries  as 
to  the  cause  and  prospects  of  the  lock-out  was 
maintained — five  heart-sick  months  for  the 
people  of  Spring  Valley.  Then  the  company 
posted  in  its  windows  at  SpringValley  an  offer  to 
them  of  thirty-five  cents  a  ton,  instead  of  ninety 
cents,  which  they  were  receiving  when  the 
mines  were  closed.  The  following  is  the  notice 
which  was  posted  at  the  Spring  Valley  mines, 
on  Thursday,  August  22,  1889: 

Notice  to  Miners.— I  am  directed  by  the  president  of  this 
company  to  make  the  miners  of  Spring  Valley  the  following 
proposition,  viz.:  Seventy-five  cents  per  ton  for  mining  in  the 
third  vein,  with  thirty  inches  of  brushing  and  three  men  in  a 
room,  from  now  until  May  i,    1890.     I  am  also  directed  that 


86  A    STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

men  now  occupying  company  houses,  who  are  unwiUing  to  work 
on  these  terms,  or  who  do  not  begin  to  work  on  or  before  Mon- 
day, September  2,  prox.,  must  vacate  the  houses  occupied  by 
them  on  or  before  that  date,  or  we  will  be  obliged  to  proceed  to 
regain  possession  peaceably  and  lawfully.  The  president  of  this 
company  desires  it  to  be  further  understood  that  we  shall  not 
treat  with  any  committee  representing  any  organization  in  the 
future,  and  that  each  man  will  have  to  seek  employment  for 
himself  and  individually. 

(Signed)  The  General  Manager. 

This  offer  was  so  worded  that,  to  the  unin- 
itiated, it  might  seem  an  offer  of  seventy-five 
cents  a  ton.  The  words  "  seventy-five  cents 
a  ton  "  occurred  in  it,  but  there  was  a  string 
tied  to  them,  in  the  shape  of  conditions,  which 
cost  the  miners  forty  cents  a  ton.  The  offer 
was,  in  substance,  "  seventy-five  cents  a  ton, 
less  forty  cents  worth  of  your  work  and  time." 
No  one  understood  the  true  character  of  the 
offer  better  than  the  men  who  would  have  had 
to  work  under  it,  and  no  one  has  explained 
it  better  than  they  did  in  a  communication 
which  they  immediately  addressed  to  the  public. 

"  Brushing,"  so  often  referred  to  below,  is 
the  work  of  removing  the  rock  above  the 
coal,  so  as  to  give  head-room  for  the  mules 
and  pit-cars.  The  company  require  that  the 
roadway  be  nine  feet  wide  at  the  bottom,  eight 
feet  wide  at  the  top  and  about  six  feet  high. 
Of  this  space,  from  three  feet  to  three  and  one- 


BUYING    BRETHREN    BELOW    COST.  8/ 

half  feet  in  height  is  coal,  for  removing  which 
the  miners  are  paid  the  agreed  rate  per  ton, 
whatever  that  may  be.  Underneath  the  coal  is 
a  layer  of  fire-clay,  sometimes  of  very  hard 
sandstone,  which  the  miner  has  to  dig  away, 
without  pay,  and  above  the  coal  is  solid  rock, 
which  he  has  to  dig  away  for  head-room,  with- 
out pay,  to  the  height  of  twenty-four  inches 
above  the  coal,  and  for  a  width  of  eight  feet. 
The  company  used  to  pay  the  miners- for  this 
"  brushing"  at  the  rate  of  $1.25  a  yard,  but 
it  has  gradually  shifted  the  burden  of  it  on  the 
miners  of  doing  it  gratuitously.  Before  the 
lock-out  the  company  had  put  sixteen  inches 
of  this  unpaid  work  on  them,  and  it  has  now 
increased  this  to  twenty-four  inches.  A  con- 
siderable part,  also,  of  the  work  on  the  coal 
vein  itself  is  without  compensation.  The  men 
get  no  pay  for  the  nut  coal,  which  drops 
through  the  spaces  of  the  coal-screens,  about 
one-eig-hth  of  all  mined.  And  there  is  in  the 
Spring  Valley  coal  a  seam  of  sulphur,  one  to 
two  inches  wide,  and  a  band  of  iron  pyrites 
varying  from  one  to  several  inches  in  thickness. 
The  coal  that  breaks  into  "  nut,"  the  sulphur 
and  the  pyrites  yield  the  miners  nothing  but 
unrequited  toil.  There  are  many  other  time- 
consuming  labors  connected  with  coal-mining 


88  A    STRIKE    OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

which  cannot  easily  be  described  to  the  unin- 
itiated, but  all  maybe  summed  up  in  the  state- 
ment that,  of  the  ten  hours  spent  hard  at  work 
on  the  knees,  or  lying  down  hundreds  of  feet 
below  daylight,  only  about  two-thirds  produce 
actual  earnings  to  the  miner. 

This  is  the  letter  to  the  public  explaining  the 
"  offer  "  of  35  cents  a  ton  : 

Spring  Valley,  III,  Aug.  24. 
Editor  of  the  Herald: 

We  wish,  through  the  columns  of  the  Herald  iogwe.  the  peo- 
ple of  Chicago  and  elsewhere  a  proper  idea  of  the  proposition 
of  the  company  which  was  made  to  the  miners  here  yesterday 
morning;  viz.,  75  cents  per  ton,  thirty  inches  of  brushing  and 
three  men  in  a  place.  Also  that  the  men  must  treat  indi- 
vidually with  the  company,  they  refusing  to  recognize  commit- 
tees or  any  "  board  "  acting  for  the  men  as  a  whole,  which 
practically  means  that  all  persons  who  have  been  active  in  their 
endeavors  to  have  some  degree  of  justice  done  them  will  not  get 
any  work  here  or  anywhere  else  if  they  can  hinder  them. 

Now,  75  cents  per  ton  is  a  reduction  of  15  cents,  the  pre- 
vious price  being  90  cents  in  the  Spring  Valley  and  La  Salle  dis- 
trict. Thirty  inches  of  brushing  means  at  least  10  cents  per 
ton  more,  as  we  were  previous  to  the  lock-out  paid  $1.25  per 
yard  for  this  amount  of  brushing. 

It  has  been  stated  in  the  press  Ijy  some  one  writing  from  here 
(who  is  unknown  to  us)  that  previous  to  the  lock-out  the  men 
were  working  three  in  a  place,  which  is  not  the  fact.  We  simply 
divided  our  work  with  those  that  had  been  thrown  out  of  work 
by  the  closing  clown  last  December  of  mines  2  and  4.  At  no 
time  were  we  working  three  in  a  place  together,  but  were 
working  two  men,  each  man  laying  off  two  days  in  the  week. 
As  will  readily  be  seen,  this  was  to  each  man  a  reduction  of  two 
days  in  the  week,  or  one-third  of  his  time,  and  this  was  not  un- 
derstood to  be  permanent,  but   only  until  mines  Nos.  2  and  4 


BUYING  BRETHREN  BELOW  COST.    89 

would  resume  operations,  as  the  mines,  when  running  at  their 
fullest  capacity,  would  not,  and  did  not,  give  the  men  full  work 
with  two  in  "a  place.  The  forcing  of  three  men  in  a  place 
would  simply  be  dividing  the  work  and  wages  of  two  men  be- 
tween three.  Now,  to  sum  up  the  proposition  :  In  the  first 
place,  there  is  proposed  a  reduction  of  15  cents  per  ton,  from  90 
to  75  cents  ;  in  the  next  place  we  are  asked  to  take  thirty  inches 
of  brushing,  for  which  we  were  previously  paid  $1.25  per  yard, 
which  is  equivalent  to  10  cents  per  ton  ;  and  last,  but  not  least, 
three  men  in  a  place,  which,  as  we  have  shown,  means  a  re- 
duction of  one-third  of  the  earnings  of  each  man,  which  is  one- 
third  of  90,  or  30  cents  per  ton,  making  in  all  55  cents  per  ton 
of  a  reduction.  Now,  this  is  a  reduction  of  over  one-half  our 
former  wages,  which  were  shown  by  the  recent  investigation 
before  the  State  board  of  charities  to  be  an  average  of  $28  to 
$30  per  month. 

By  way  of  properly  seasoning  this  kind  and  considerata 
offer,  it  is  further  stated  in  the  proposition,  that,  if  the  men  do 
not  accept  these  terms  on  or  before  the  2d  of  September,  the 
company  will  proceed  to  regain  possession  of  their  houses, 
which,  of  course,  means  eviction,  as  none  of  the  miners  have 
the  means  to  move  elsewhere. 

This  infamous  proposition  has  caused  general  indignation 
here,  not  only  among  the  miners,  but  also  among  the  business 
men,  who  are  denouncing  the  outrage  in  terms  more  forcible 
than  polite.  The  general  manager  has  resigned  the  manage- 
ment of  the  mines,  and  has  also  sold  out  his  interest  in  the 
company.  His  reason  for  doing  so,  it  is  said,  is  because  of  the 
president's  insisting  on  these  terms,  which  the  latter  knows  can 
never  be  agreed  to  by  the  men,  and  also  because  of  his  intention 
of  importmg  colored  men  to  take  the  place  of  miners. 

A.  D.  BouRKE,  President  of  Lodge  No.  26. 
Thomas  Brady,  Secretary  of  Lodge  No.  26. 
Robert  Wilson,  Secretary  of  Relief  Committee. 

A  few  days  before  this  "  offer,"  the  presi- 
dent of  the  company  had,  by  an  ostentatious 


90  A    STRIKE    OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

withdrawal,  broken  up  a  conference  between 
mine-owners  and  miners  strugglirig-  for  an 
agreement  in  Cliicago,  at  the  Grand  Pacific 
Hotel.  As  he  did  so,  he  is  reported  by  one 
of  the  newspapers  to  have  said  : 

"  I  will  settle  with  my  own  men.  I  do  not 
care  what  this  conference  may  decide  upon. 
I  will  pay  my  men  as  high  a  figure  as  they 
may  fix.  Yes,  I  will  pay  them  a  higher  scale 
than  any  which  may  be  adopted  at  this  confer- 
ence, that  is,  if  I  continue  to  mine  coal  in 
Illinois.  If  I  decide  to  resume  the  mining  of 
coal,  it  will  be  on  a  bigger  scale  than  ever 
before,  and  on  an  entirely  different  basis." 

This  was  August  i6th.  The  value  of  the 
promise  to  pay  "  as  high  "  as  others,  or 
"  higher,"  was  illustrated  within  a  week,  by  the 
"  offer"  of  August  23d.  just  described.  This 
has  the  unique  distinction  of  being  without 
exception  the  lowest  bid  yet  made  for  Ameri- 
can labor.  According  to  the  estimate  of  their 
previous  average  earnings,  made  by  the  special 
commissioners  of  the  State,  it  would  have 
yielded  the  miners  about  $10  a  month  —  and 
"find"  themselves.  According  to  your  own 
"  statistics,"  it  would  have  given  them  about 
$16  a  month,  and  find  themselves.  This  offer 
was  stuck  to,  and  repeated  publicly  a  month 


BUYING   BRETHREN   BELOW    COST.         91 

later,  as  the  best  you  could  do.  Every  one 
knows  well,  that  it  was  never  supposed,  even  in 
offering  such  terms,  that  they  would  be  listened 
to  by  the  men.  Public  opinion  will  never 
quarrel  with  your  men  for  publicly  branding  as 
"infamous"  such  a  proposition,  made  after 
the  silence  and  lock-out  of  five  months,  with 
every  appearance  of  a  purpose  to  add  a  new 
terror  to  the  apprehensions  of  the  community, 
in  order  to  frighten  them  into  selling  you  their 
labor  below  the  cost  of  subsistence.  No  one 
but  those  who  made  this  offer  have  ever  had 
the  hardihood  to  defend  it.  Even  the  local 
journals  of  Spring  Valley  denounced  it.  The 
Gazette  of  September  I2th,  said  :  "  The  men 
here  are  willing  to  do  what  the  La  Salle  men 
are,  but  the  company  wants  them  to  accept 
terms  way  below  that.  This  the  miners  declare 
they  will  not  accept,  and  the  sympathies  of  our 
citizens  are  with  them.  The  Spring  Valley 
Coal  Company  can  certainly  pay  as  high 
wages  as  its  competitors." 

Stung  into  protest  by  this  offer  to  the  men, 
and  the  threat  to  close  the  mines,  the  Spring 
Valley  Sentinel,  which,  with  the  Gazette,  con- 
stitute the  local  press  of  the  town,  had  a  plain- 
spoken  article  in  its  issue  of  August  3 1  st.  It  is 
of  importance  as  showing,  as  the  article  in  the 


92  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

Gazette  does,  that  the  injustice  done  the  miners 
was  so  obvious  that  it  had  to  be  admitted  by 
local  elements  not  specially  friendly  to  them. 
Speaking  broadly,  the  business  men  and  the 
working  men  of  our  civilization  are  antag- 
onistic to  each  other,  and  this  is  true  in  little 
Spring  Valley  as  in  better  known  communities. 
The  business  men  and  the  working  men  repre- 
sent different  social  classes,  and  different  sides 
of  the  bargains  of  industry.  Their  different 
circumstances  have  given  them  different  ideals 
and  philosophies  of  life.  The  busi-ness  man  aims 
to  make  a  fortune  for  himself,  and,  to  reach  that 
solitary  good,  wants  to  go  it  alone.  He  must 
have  "  competition,"  "  individual  enterprise," 
laissez  faire,  etc.  The  working  man  knows 
that  solitary  prosperity  and  the  good  of  the 
people  are  compatible  only  by  being  made  one. 
He  is  forced  to  seek  the  good  of  all  as  the  pre- 
liminary of  good  for  himself,  and  he  advocates 
the  policy  of  union,  self-sacrifice  of  the  indi- 
vidual for  the  sake  of  all,  social  control.  Per- 
sonal inquiry  among  the  merchants  of  Spring 
Valley  showed  that  in  most  cases  they  felt  the 
prejudices  of  their  class  against  the  working- 
men  and  their  ideas,  although  this  prejudice 
was  often  tempered  by  the  kindest  personal  feel- 
ings, and  the  tenderest  commiseration  for  their 


BUYING   BRETHREN   BELOW   COST.  93 

sufferings.  The  newspapers  of  Spring  Valley 
are  supported  by  the  advertisements  and  sub- 
scriptions of  the  business  class,  including  the 
patronage  of  the  coal  company  itself.  That 
these  papers  spoke  out  as  they  did,  must  be 
counted  the  strongest  possible  evidence  of  the 
oppressive  unfairness  of  the  action  of  the  mine- 
owners. 

The  article  in  the  Sentinel  was  as  follows: 

THE    SITUATION. 

The  present  situation  is  anything  but  encouraging  for  Spring 
Valley.  The  mines  are  closed  down,  and  all  the  clerical  force 
laid  off  indefinitely.  The  general  manager,  who  owns  $350,000, 
or  one-seventh  of  the  capital  stock,  offered  to  take  the  mines 
and  run  them,  and  give  the  company  fifteen  cents  a  ton  clear 
of  expenses.*  This  was  refused  by  the  president  of  the  com- 
pany. At  Braidwood  a  settlement  is  about  to  be  made  at  87^^ 
cents  per  ton.  There  is  an  offer  of  82^  cents  at  La  Salle,  but 
there  is  little  hopes  of  a  settlement  here.  The  Sentinel  would 
be  untrue  to  its  convictions  of  duty  did  it  not  call  attention 
to  the  true  condition  of  both  sides  of  this  momentous  question. 
It  has  been  given  put  that  this  was  the  largest  coal  mining  plant 
in  the  United  States,  truthfully.  The  Town  Site  Company 
have  advertised  and  sold  a  large  amount  of  real  estate  on  these 
representations.  The  coal  company  and  the  Town  Site  Com- 
pany are  practically  indentical.  Men  came  here  and  invested 
all  they  possessed,  knowing  the  facts,  and  believing  in  the  asser- 

*  The  president  of  the  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company,  in  a  conference 
with  the  miners  about  their  wages,  told  them  that  they  could  take  the 
mines  and  run  them,  if  they  would  pay  him  a  royalty  of  only  fifteen  cents 
a  ton.  This,  to  "  prove"  to  the  men  that  the  company  could  not  afford  to 
pay  them  living  wages.  Hut,  when  the  superintendent,  who  was  also 
part  owner,  did  what  the  poor  miners  had  not  the  money,  or  nerve,  or 
knowledge  to  do  —  accepted  the  proposition,  the  president  backed  down 
at  once. 


94  A   STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

tions  that  the  coal  company  would  be  a  lastmg  feature  of  the 
town.  The  business  done  here  is  transacted  solely  on  the 
money  disbursed  by  the  coal  company.  Men  who  are  engaged 
in  business  realize  that  to  stop  the  mines,  stops  business.  They 
have  waited  for  four  months,  and  with  the  announcement  that 
another  six  months  of  idleness  was  in  store  for  them,  they 
have  become  justly  indignant;  and  are  only  waiting  for  a  suit- 
able opportunity  to  unload  and  seek  other  and  more  stable 
fields  of  trade.  That  is  one  side  of  the  situation.  Let  us  see 
if  there  are  any  extenuating  circumstances.  The  gigantic  coal 
company  has  lost  money  here.  They  cannot  pay  last  year's 
prices  and  not  lose  more.  The  president  of  the  company 
makes  a  proposition  which  he  claims  is  all  he  can  do.  He  can- 
not get  men  to  accept  it.  After  waiting  a  week,  he  says:  "  It 
is  not  likely  that  operations  will  be  resumed  for  six  months  or 
a  year."  The  people  of  all  classes  are  shocked,  and  many  are 
panic-stricken.  What  shall  we  do?  What  does  it  mean?  We 
will  tell  you.  For  the  business  men  of  the  town,  six  months  or 
a  year  more  of  idleness  means  bankruptcy  ;  for  the  working- 
men  who  have  depended  on  this  industry  for  a  livelihood,  a 
removal,  living  on  charity  or  starvation.  For  the  coal  com- 
pany it  means  a  greater  loss  than  has  hitherto  been  sustained; 
the  opening  of  new  mines,  if  work  is  ever  resumed.  And  it 
means  a  new  population  when  the  city  is  once  more  brought  to 
life.  Now  let  the  candid,  intelligent  reader  judge  where 
justice  and  self-interest  conflict,  and  then  prognosticate  the 
future.      The  Sentinel  has  this  to  say: 

Though  the  mills  of  God  grind  slowlj'. 

Yet  they  grind  exceeding  small; 
Though  with  patience  he  stands  waiting, 

With  exactness  grinds  He  all. 

And  believing  in  the  truth  of  this,  we  say  there  is  yet  a  future 
for  our  city,  and  a  prosperous  tide  of  affairs  yet  to  come.  The 
president  may  legally  close  his  mines  now,  but  if  the  governor 
of  this  State  and  legislature  do  their  duty  as  law-makers  and 
executives  should,  this  state  of  affairs  will  be  regulated,  and  the 
rights  of  innocent  parties  protected.     That  there  is  something 


BUYING  BRETHREN  BELOW  COST.    95 

radically  wrong  in  the  management  of  this  affair  we  are  satisfied. 
The  Union  Coal  Company,  of  La  Salle,  operating  the  same  vein 
of  coal,  and  presumably  has  the  same  market,  has  a  standing 
offer  of  S2}4  cents.  Braidwood  operators  have  made  an  offer 
ten  cents  in  advance  of  our  company's  proposition.  Its  presi- 
dent, in  his  letter  to  Congressman  I. awler,  recently  i)ublished  in 
the  Chicago  Tiibiinc,  takes  the  Chicago  market  as  a  basis  and 
says  "  if  the  good  people  of  Chicago  "  will  pay  such  a  price  for 
coal,  he  will  open  the  mines.  Now,  Chicago  is  not  the  Spring 
Valley  Company's  market,  and  never  was  ;  all  last  year  he  sold 
coal  to  the  North-Western  road  here  at  this  point,  Spring  Val- 
ley, for  $1.42  per  ton.  Here  is  his  market,  and  all  along  the 
line  of  the  North-Western  road.  Streator  is  a  competitor  for  a 
very  small  part  of  the  coal  trade  at  junction  points  only.  These 
facts,  placed  beside  the  refusal  to  lease  the  mines  on  a  fifteen 
cent  royalty,  are  not  consistent  with  his  proposition.  The  sit- 
uation is  bad.  The  coal  company  has  made  a  bad  matter  very 
much  worse. 

The  Gazette  and  the  Sentinel  expressed  the 
almost  universal  opmion  condemning  the  offer 
of  the  coal  company  to  its  men,  and  approving 
their  manliness  in  resenting  it  as  an  insult  added 
to  injury.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Stringer  said,  in  his 
pulpit  Sunday  evening,  October  27th:  "When 
the  president  of  the  company  offered  the  men 
seventy  five  cents  per  ton  with  thirty  inches 
of  brushing  and  three  men  in  a  room,  nobody 
thought  the  men  ought  to  accept  it."  All  of 
this  is  evidence  from  sources  which  through- 
out have  been  far  more  partial  to  the  employers 
than  to  the  men. 

Adjutant-General  Vance  said,  after  visiting 


g6  A   STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

Spring  Valley  officially  for  the  governor  : 
"  There  is  a  universal  expression  [among  the 
citizens  of  Spring  Valley],  that  the  offer  of 
seventy-five  cents  a  ton  for  mining  and  thirty 
inches  of  brushing,  with  three  men  in  a  room, 
would  be  unreasonable,  and  an  unfair  remu- 
neration to  the  miners,  and  the  president  is 
charged  with  insincerity  in  making  the  offer." 
With  this  offer  of  thirty-five  cents  a  ton, 
ostensibly  seventy-five  cents  a  ton,  was  coupled 
the  requirement  that  the  men  should  abandon 
their  union.  You  do  all  your  business  through 
a  union,  and  by  walking,  or  more  correctly 
sitting  delegates,  and  through  committees 
of  directors,  and  you  keep  a  large  staff  of 
"professional  agitators  "  constantly  busy  on 
your  behalf  in  courts  and  legislatures  and 
stock  exchanges.  But  because  you  are  rich 
and  think  you  have  the  power,  you  determined 
to  take  away  the  same  rights  from  these  poor 
men.  By  this  demand  of  August  23d,  for  the 
surrender  of  their  union,  the  men  learned  that, 
worse  than  a  reduction  of  wages,  the  destruc- 
tion of  their  union  had  been  decreed.  This 
meant  the  destruction  of  their  power  to  make 
a  free  contract,  and  to  protect  themselves 
against  violations  of  the  contract  when  made. 
It   meant  that  the  tasks,  hours  of  work,   the 


BUYING    BRETHREN    BELOW    COST.  97 

pay,  the  personal  liberty,  the  treatment  at  the 
hands  of  overseers,  settlement  of  disputes, 
and  other  matters,  which  lay  at  the  very 
foundations  of  livelihood  and  rights,  were  to 
depend  on  the  will  of  the  employer — harder 
than  that,  on  the  will  of  the  overseer.  It 
meant  that  the  men  were  to  be  denied  the 
benefit  of  any  gift  of  leadership  —  ahva)s  too 
rare  —  that  might  develop  itself  among  them. 
It  meant  that  any  man  so  gifted,  who  should 
have  the  heart  to  speak  against  the  abuse  of 
his  fellows,  who  should  have  the  brain  to  see 
how  they  could  make  better  bargains  for 
themselves,  and  the  tongue  to  get  the  idea  into 
their  heads,  and  to  speak  for  them,  should  be 
banished  at  the  will  of  the  employer.  It 
meant  that  the  workmen  could  have  work  only 
at  the  price  of  dumb  submission  and  disunited 
helplessness. 

The  employers,  rich,  remote,  independent, 
could  bring  their  combined  power  operated 
through  an  agent,  to  bear  resistlessly  on  the 
men,  poor,  dependent,  anchored  to  the  spot  by 
family  responsibilities  and  lack  of  the  means 
to  get  away.  The  employers,  although  strong 
enough  to  stand  alone,  were  united  together 
in  a  union  the  wealth  and  discipline  of  which 
were    far    beyond    anything   possible    to    the 


98  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

workingmen,  and  yet  announced  that  they 
were  going  to  take  away  the  same  right  of 
union  from  their  men. 

The  company's  vein  of  coal  is  so  thin  that 
the  men  have  to  work  all  day  on  their  knees  or 
lying  down,  but  you  insist  that  in  addition  to 
this  they  shall  come  on  their  knees  when  they 
make  their  application  for  work,  and  not  like 
American  citizens  acting  through  a  committee 
or  attorney,  if  that  suits  them  better  than  com- 
ing one  by  one.  You  have  in  the  mines  a 
class  of  useful  and  docile  animals  in  the  mules 
which  stay  in  the  depths  for  years,  and  some- 
times never  come  back  to  the  surface.  You 
always  treat  with  them  "  individually."  If 
your  plans  succeed,  it  will  not  be  long  before 
you  will  have  the  power  to  keep  your  miners 
like  your  mules  —  down  below  from  year's  end 
to  year's  end.  There  will  be  nothing  left  them 
worth  coming  to  the  surface  for,  because,  if 
you  can  make  them  give  up  their  unions,  you 
can  make  them  give  up  everything.  "  Unite 
or  Die  "  said  Franklin  to  the  American  colo- 
nies. The  unorganized  workman,  says  Prof. 
Thorold  Rogers,  cannot  make  a  free  contract. 
John  Morley,  the  great  English  statesman, 
said  recently  to  the  miners  of  Durham  :  "  We 
all  know  what  the  labor  union  has  done  for  the 


BUYING   BRETHREN   BELOW    COST.         99 

working  people.  It  has  made  men  of  them." 
You,  with  so  many  millions  you  could  not 
count  them  if  you  counted  all  your  life  like 
clerks  of  the  treasury,  instead  of  helping  to 
make  men  of  your  vvorkingmen,  seek  to  dehu- 
manize them  for  "  more  "  millions. 

The  indignant  refusal  of  the  miners  to  con- 
sider the  offer  of  August  23d  as  anything 
but  a  brutality  was  followed  by  the  closing  of 
the  company's  offices  in  Spring  Valley.  A 
special  dispatch  in  the  Chicago  Herald  of 
August  26th,  said: 

Spring  Valley,  111.,  August  26. — A  telegram  was  received 
here  this  morning  from  the  president  of  the  coal  company 
instructing  his  general  manager  to  discharge  all  employes  whose 
services  were  not  absolutely  needed,  and  to  reduce  expenses  to 
a  minimum  preparatory  to  a  six-months'  or  a  year's  shut-down 
of  the  coal  mines  here. 

Succeeding  this  came  a  dispatch  of  August 
28th,  which  said: 

Spring  Valley,  111.,  August  28. — [Special.]  • — The  Spring 
Valley  Coal  Company  to-day  discharged  their  entire  general 
office  force  for  an  indefinite  period.  Every  move  that  is  made 
is  indicative  of  carrying  out  the  order  to  close  down  the  mine 
for  a  year  or  six  months.     The  town  is  fast  becoming  deserted. 

September  25th  the  offer  of  August  23d  was 
repeated  in  a  long  communication  to  the  public, 
printed  in  the  appendix,  through  Governor 
Fifer,  and  was  accompanied  by  this  solemn  as- 


lOO  A   STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

sevcration:  "  It  is  all  the  concession  we  can 
possibly  make  to  our  men  and  maintain  our- 
selves in  a  competitive  market."  If  this  were 
true,  it  would  not  excuse  the  company's  treat- 
ment of  the  men.  But  it  was  not  true,  as 
your  own  spokesmen  shall  prove,  and  as  can 
be  shown  by  three  business  facts  which  the 
wayfaring  man,  though  a  fool,  can  read.  At 
the  very  moment  this  statement  was  made  a 
mine  with  precisely  the  same  kind  of  veins, 
quality  of  coal,  etc.,  as  yours,  that  at  Locey- 
ville,  four  miles  away,  was  at  work,  paying  its 
miners  the  unreduced  rate  of  wages  you  gave 
before  your  lock-out  —  90  cents  a  ton  —  al- 
though it  was  far  inferior  in  capital,  equip- 
ment, etc. ,  and  so  had  to  buy  dearer  and  sell 
cheaper  than  you.  That  is  fact  number  one. 
Fact  number  two  is  just  as  clear,  and  proves 
that  the  coal  company's  statement,  in  five  col- 
umns of  fine  print,  of  September  25th  (see  ap- 
pendix), was  prepared  to  deceive  the  public 
and  prevent  them  from  learning  the  truth,  that 
the  lock-out  was  really  an  offensive  movement 
of  millionaires  to  put  down  the  livelihood  of 
poor  men  below  the  level  paid  by  other  mine- 
owners,  below  the  competitive  level,  below 
what  you  really  could  afford  to  pay,  and  below 
the  cost  of  their  subsistence.     This  fact,  num- 


BUYING   BRETHREN   BELOW    COST.        lOI 

ber  two,  was  the  resumption,  close  upon  your 
statement,  of  the  mines  at  La  Salle  and  Peru, 
at  prices  more  than  double  what  you  had  of- 
fered August  23d,  and  had  declared  Septem- 
ber 25th  were  all  that  could  possibly  be  paid. 
These  mines  have  the  same  coal  and  veins  as 
yours,  but  nothing  like  your  capital,  equip- 
ment or  market  connections.  Fact  number 
three  is  strongest  of  all,  and  comes  out  of  your 
own  mouth.  Within  a  month  after  declaring, 
on  September  25th,  that  your  offer  of  August 
23d  was  all  you  could  give  and  live,  you  of  the 
coal  company  on  October  24th,  in  the  nego- 
tiations carried  on  by  Rev.  John  F.  Power, 
made  your  men  an  offer  double  that  of  August 
23d,  viz.:  82^  cents  a  ton,  with  an  increase 
of  brushing  of  only  eight  inches,  instead  of 
fourteen,  and  only  two  men  in  a  room,  instead 
of  three.  In  fact,  this  offer  was  considerably 
more  than  double  that  which  you  had  so  for- 
mally and  solemnly  declared  a  month  before  was 
the  best  you  could  do  and  live.  The  increase 
of  eight  inches  of  brushing  takes  off  about  only 
3  to  5  cents  a  ton  from  the  offer,  leaving  about 
'J']y2  cents  net,  and  you  made  some  other 
concessions,  allowing  for  which,  makes  the 
offer  of  October  24th  considerably  more  than 
double  the   "  last  ditch  "  proposition   of  only 


/ 


I02  A   STRIKE   OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

four  weeks  before.  The  new  offer  was  de- 
scribed in  a  press  dispatch  of  October  24th, 
from  Spring  Valley,  to  the  Chicago  Tribune, 
as  follows: 

This  afternoon  the  following  telegram  was  received  from  the 
president  of  the  coal  company  : 

We  are  willing  to  pay  82>^  cents  per  ton  for  screened  coal 
and  70  cents  per  ton  for  run  of  the  mine  (rough  and  tumble); 
also  twenty-four  inches  of  brushing,  with  two  men  in  a  room 
and  fourteen  yards  of  coal  face;  no  back  rent  to  pay  from  May 
1st  to  November  ist,  but  we  shall  insist  upon  contracts  being 
signed,  and  no  committees  to  treat  with  us.  We  are  willing 
that  the  men  shall  have  all  the  unions  they  wish  independent 
of  us. 

Immediately  upon  the  receipt  of  this,  the 
secretary  of  the  Miner's  Union  forwarded  the 
following  to  the  press: 

WHY   THE     SPRING     VALLEY     MINERS    WOULD     NOT    SIGN     MR. 
SCOTT'S    CONTRACT. 

Spring  Valley,  October  28. 
Following  are  the  resolutions  adopted  at  a  mass-meeting 
held  the  26th  inst.  which  had  been  called  for  the  purpose  of 
hearing  read  a.  proposed  contract  which  was  drafted  by  Man- 
ager Dalzell  on  the  part  of  the  company  and  James  McNulty  on 
the  part  of  the  miners.  It  had  been  agreed  at  a  previous  meet- 
ing by  Mr.  Dalzell  and  the  miners,  that,  as  the  contract  before 
submitted  by  the  company  was  objectionable  to  the  miners,  that 
one  be  drafted  as  above,  and  Mr.  Dalzell  gave  the  miners  to  un- 
derstand that  the  objectionable  feature  might  be  stricken  out, 
but  that  was  not  done,  and  the  rules  submitted  to  the  meetmg 
for  the  approval  of  the  miners  were,  with  few  exceptions,  the 
original  document.     It  appeared  to  the  miners  that  undue  ad- 


BUYING    BRETHREN    BELOW    COST.         IO3 

vantage  was  sought  on    the  part  of  the  company,  whereupon 
the  following  preamble  and  resolution  was  adopted: 

Whereas,  The  locked-out  miners  of  Spring  Valley  have 
used  every  endeavor  to  bring  about  a  settlement,  and  have  gone 
so  far  as  to  surrender  some  of  their  rights  as  American  citizens; 
and, 

Whereas,  The  terms  offered  the  Spring  Valley  Coal 
Company  —  viz.:  82)4  cents  per  ton,  with  twenty-four  inches  of 
brushing  —  gives  it  advantages  over  all  the  mines  in  the  La 
Salle  and  other  districts  in  northern  Illinois;  and 

Whereas,  The  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company  has  refused  to 
start  its  mines  on  these  conditions  unless  we  would  surrender 
the  last  vestige  of  our  rights  —  the  right  of  association;  there- 
fore be  it 

Resolved,  That  we  the  miners  of  Spring  Valley,  in  mass- 
meeting  assembled,  do  hereby  rescind  all  former  propositions 
to  the  company,  and  bind  ourselves  to  accept  no  proposition  ex- 
cept that  already  submitted  — viz.,  82^4  cents  per  ton,  twenty- 
four  ihches  of  brushing,  working  place  of  forty-two  feet,  with 
two  men  in  a  place;  all  other  conditions  the  same  as  last  year. 

This  offer  of  October  24th, the  men  were  ready 
to  accept  had  you  not  insisted  that  they  should 
still  surrender  their  unions  and  sign  an  iron- 
clad contract  which  bound  them  to  all  possible 
disadvantages  and  bound  you  to  nothing.  To 
save  their  union,  without  which  they  well  know 
they  will  in  the  end  lose  everything  that  makes 
them  free  men,  the  miners  kept  up  the  forlorn 
struggle  a  few  days  longer.  But  it  was  hope- 
less. The  importation  of  men  from  the  Penn- 
sylvania field  was  begun  by  the  company,  and 
threatened   to    fill    the    mines  with    outsiders, 


I04  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

False  reports  were  sent  out  through  the  news- 
papers that  the  lock-out  was  settled  at  Spring 
Valley,  and  in  consequence  miners  began 
flocking  in  and  contributions  for  relief  began  to 
slacken.  The  last  day  came,  and  the  miners, 
exhausted  utterly,  succumbed  to  the  slow  siege 
of  slander  and  starvation,  and  at  a  meeting  on 
November  I2th,  voted  by  secret  ballot  to  give 
up  the  struggle,  to  apply  for  work  as  "  individu- 
als," and  sign  the  "  contract"  falsely  so  called, 
which  the  company  had  drafted.  The  ranks 
that  had  stood  so  heroically  together  for  so 
many  months,  broke.  It  was  a  race  to  see  who 
could  get  first  to  the  office  and  enter  servitude 
on  the  Pennsylvania  plan. 

This  oft'er  by  you  of  the  coal  company  on 
October  25th  of  more  than  double  what  you 
had  offered  August  23d,  and  had  declared, 
September  25th,  was  all  you  could  offer  and 
live,  was  an  admission  outright  of  the  real  pur- 
pose of  your  doings.  It  was  a  confession  that 
you  had  created,  or  allowed  to  be  created,  all- 
the  misery  of  Spring  Valley  to  increase  your 
profits  by  cutting  down  the  wages  of  your 
men  below  what  you  and  others  were  paying, 
and  could  afford  to  pa}^  This  is  what  your 
long  letters  to  the  governor,  statements  to  the 
public  and  interviews  in  the  papers  boil  down 


BUYING   BRETHREN   BELOW    COST.         105 

to.  All  the  clever  columns  of  assorted  statis- 
tics, mystifying  talk  about  competitive  fields, 
railway  discriminations,  "junction  points," 
jargon  about  "  brushing  "  and  slanderous 
charges  that  the  men  would  rather  live  on 
charity  than  work,  you  having  yourselves 
taken  away  their  work  and  made  them  beg- 
gars—  all  simmer  down  to  this:  You  made 
commercial  war  on  them,  their  wives  and 
children,  to  add  to  your  millions  at  the  risk  of 
misery,  disease  and  death  to  them.  The  pay- 
ment by  the  competitors  all  about  you  of  double 
what  you  offered,  your  own  offer  of  double 
what  you  repeatedly  assured  the  public  was  all 
you  could  pay,  indicates  your  dreadful  pur- 
pose to  buy  your  brothers  "  below  cost." 

It  was  for  this  these  poor  men  were  seduced 
into  leaving  homes  and  employment  elsewhere 
to  settle  in  "  your  town  ;  "  that  they  were 
snared  in  the  meshes  of  land  purchase  on 
monthly  installments  without  a  title,  making 
the  purchase  of  a  home  a  means  of  slavery 
instead  of  the  refuge  and  support  it  should  be. 
It  was  for  this  the  labor  market  was  over- 
stocked by  bringing  in  superfluous  miners 
from  Belgium,  France,  Italy,  and  all  parts  of 
America  ;  that  one-third  of  the  mines  were 
shut  down  in  December,  and  the  rest  in  April, 


I06  A   STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES 

without  notice;  that  having  promised  "  steady 
employment,"  your  agent  refused  for  five 
months  to  give  the  arbitrarily  disemployed 
men  any  explanation  or  any  chance  to  work 
at  any  price;  that  he  then  offered  them  less 
than  half  what  neighboring  mines,  poorer 
than  yours,  are  paying;  that  he  refused  to 
arbitrate;  that  he  would  not  receive  the  men 
when  they  came  offering  to  work  at  the  prices 
paid  elsewhere,  which  he  had  sworn  in  public 
you  would  pay  and  better;  that  he  dragged 
the  men  about  from  conference  to  conference 
at  La  Salle  and  Joliet  and  Chicago  for  a  com- 
promise which  he  had  no  thought  of  making; 
that  he  demanded  the  abandonment  of  their 
union  by  men  who,  without  union,  were  but 
brittle  sticks  to  be  broken  by  you  one  by  one 
at  your  pleasure.  It  is  for  this  that  the  homes 
of  the  poor  have  been  broken  up,  and  the 
men,  leaving  wives  and  children  to  face  the 
terrors  of  starvation,  have  been  driven  forth 
in  heartbreak  to  seek  work  where  a  million 
unemployed  were    tramping  ahead  of   them. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

A   " FREE "    CONTRACT. 

The  arrangements  under  which  the  miners 
went  back  to  work  for  you  are  called  "  con- 
tracts. " 

It  is  of  the  essence  of  contracts  that  they 
should  be  free;  and  to  be  free,  they  must  be 
the  voluntary  agreements  of  equal  parties, 
made  without  duress,  and  with  a  full  under- 
standing of  all  the  obligations  assumed  and 
imposed.  The  means  taken  by  the  "  party  of 
the  first  part  "  to  prepare  the  minds  and  bodies 
of  the  "  parties  of  the  second  part,"  at  Spring 
Valley,  to  accept  the  terms  of  the  iron-clad 
printed  contract  offered  them,  were  of  a  kind 
not  to  be  found  recommended  in  any  of  the 
law  books.      They  were  such  as  these: 

Months  of  disemployment  and  of  intimidat- 
ing; refusal  to  give  explanations  why  work 
had  been  stopped  or  when  it  would  be  re- 
sumed; the  application  of  the  torture  of  famine 
and  of  compulsory   exile;   systematic    slander 

and    misrepresentation    through    public    and 

(107I 


108  A   STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

private  channels;  threats  that  the  idleness 
might  be  prolonged  for  years;  the  public  and 
repeated  menace  that  other  workingmen  would 
be  brought  in  to  take  their  livelihood  away 
from  them,  by  force,  "  If  it  takes  all  the  power 
of  the  State  to  do  it,"  said  the  figure-head  of 
tlie  millionaires  ;  the  terrifying  assertion  that 
the  pay  was  to  be  reduced  from  90  cents  to  35 
cents  a  ton;  threats  of  evictions  and  of  for- 
feiture of  all  the  earnings  invested  in  the  pur- 
chase of  lots  and  building  material  bought 
from  the  company  on  the  installment  plan. 

These  were  the   influences   used  to   prepare 
the  men  to  make  a  "  free  "   contract. 

When  the  men  broke  their  ranks,  and  ran  to 
the  company's  office  to  "  settle,"  they  stood 
in  a  long  file,  hundreds  of  them  passing  one 
by  one  before  the  clerk's  window  to  "  sign." 
The  paper  given  them,  the  "  contract,"  was  two 
pages,  foolscap  size,  of  fine  print.  They  had 
no  time  to  read  it.  Not  one  of  them  would 
have  dared  to  ask  to  be  allowed  to  read  it 
before  signing  at  the  risk  of  finding  his  name 
on  the  black  list  when  he  came  back.  It 
would  have  done  none  of  them  any  good  if 
they  had  read  it.  They  couldn't  have  under- 
stood its  full  scope,  its  provisions,  carefully 
conned  over  by  and  woven  together  at  their 


A    "  FREE  "    CONTRACT.  IO9 

leisure  by  shrewd  business  men  with  the  help 
of  the  best  legal  advice,  embodying  all  the 
latest  decisions  of  the  courts  in  the  phrasing  of 
the  different  clauses.  If  they  could  have 
understood  it,  they  couldn't  have  got  it 
changed.  Oliver  Twist  asking  for  "more" 
was  nothing  of  a  spectacle  in  comparison 
with  a  miner  who  should  dream  of  suggesting 
some  alterations  to  suit  him  in  the  "contract  " 
he  was  about  to  sign.  Imagine  him,  the 
"  free"  party  of  the  second  part,  his  clothes 
hanging  limp  over  the  cavities  in  his  person 
caused  by  seven  months  enforced  idleness, 
his  wife  and  children  at  home  waiting  for 
what  he  will  bring,  the  relief  contributed  by 
the  public  stopped  by  the  news  that  work  has 
begun.  Imagine  this  "  citizen  "  standing  up 
to  the  five  hundred  million  dollars  which  looks 
out  at  him  over  the  counter  through  the  super- 
cilious eyes  of  the  clerk.  Try  to  fancy  his 
saying  :  "  This  contract  suits  me,  all  but  this 
and  that  ;  make  that  so-and-so,  and  we  will 
call  it  a  bargain!  " 

Of  the  men  who  scrambled  over  each  other 
to  get  to  the  windows  to"  sign,"  a  great  many 
could  not  read  at  all  ;  a  great  many,  being 
French,  Belgian,  Italian,  German,  Polish, 
could    not    read  English.     No    one   read   the 


no  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

contract  to  them  ;  no  one  explained  it.  As 
fast  as  they  could  sign  their  names  or  make 
their  mark,  they  passed  on. 

As  each  one  came  up  he  gave  his  name. 
The  clerk,  before  presenting  the  "  contract  " 
for  him  to  sign,  it  was  observed,  always  glanced 
down  to  his  desk.  "  What's  your  name? 
Brown?  "  Looks  down.  "  That's  all  right. 
Brown;  put  your  name  here.    Now,  then,  next!" 

Here  is  one  of  the  faithfulest  members  of 
the  relief  committee  in  the  line.  "  What's 
your  name?  Bourke,  you  say?  I'll  see," 
Looks  down.  "  B-B-B-Bourke.  Ah  !  yes, 
Bourke.  I  haven't  any  contract  for  you.  You 
will  have  to  see  the  superintendent.      Next." 

It  is  the  "  black  list  "which  lies  on  the  clerk's 
desk.  Bourke  of  the  relief  committee  is  on  the 
list.  He  will  get  no  work.  He  will  have  to 
go  far  from  Spring  Valley  before  his  waiting 
wife  and  children  get  any  earnings  of  his  for 
the  purchase  of  food  He  is  a  "  free  "  man  — 
free  to  leave,  free  to  hunt  work,  free  to  go  into 
exile. 

Here  is  the  so-called  contract.  It  binds  the 
company  to  nothing  but  that  while  it  keeps 
the  man  at  work  it  will  pay  him  so  much  a  ton. 
The  miner  is  bound  to  work  usually  from  May 
to  May,  in  this  case  from  December  to  May, 


A    "  FREE       CONTRACT.  I  I  I 

but  the  company  is  not  bound  to  ^ive  him 
work.  The  miner  cannot  discharge  the  com- 
pany for  any  cause,  but  they  may  discharge 
him  whenever  they  see  fit.  The  miner  makes 
his  payment,  which  is  in  coal,  to  the  company 
every  day,  but  the  company  makes  him  wait 
two  weeks  to  six  weeks  for  every  dollar  it  owes 
him.  However  starveling  may  be  his  wages, 
the  miner  has  to  bind  himself  to  join  no  com- 
bination to  better  them.  If  he  even  smiles 
upon  any  such  combination,  it  is  under  the 
penalty  of  losing  all  the  company  owes  him 
for  work,  and  the  company  is  the  judge 
whether  or  not  he  has  smiled  an  insubordinate 
smile.  Meanwhile,  the  company  may  join 
any  conspiracy  it  choosesto  put  down  the  wages 
of  the  men,  or  put  up  the  price  of  coal.  If  the 
pit  boss  is  a  tyrant,  and  oppresses  the  miner, 
as  he  has  hundreds  of  ways  of  doing,  the 
miner  has  the  privilege  under  the  "  contract  " 
of  appealing  for  redress  to  this  pit  boss  who 
has  wronged  him.  The  miner  who  knows 
that  all  of  his  associates  have  under  compulsion 
signed  away  their  right  to  defend  him  by  the 
only  power  that  could  help  him,  the  power  of 
the  union,  and  that  he  stands  in  the  darkness 
of  the  pit  simply  as  an  individual,  is  not  likely 
to  antagonize  the   petty  despot  of  the  mines. 


112  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

But  if  he  has  the  rare  courage  to  do  so,  and  gets 
an  adverse  decision,  he  has  one  privilege  more. 
He  can  appeal  from  the  pit  boss  to  the  superin- 
tendent, whose  appointee  the  pit  boss  is. 

All  of  which  amounts  to  this:  that  the  miner, 
the  weaker  party,  agrees  to  leave  all  disputed 
questions  to  the  decision  of  the  other  party, 
opposed  to  him  in  interest  at  all  points.  No 
wonder  the  workingman  has  to  be  locked  out 
and  starved  before  he  feels  "  free  "  enough  (of 
food   and   manhood)   to  make  such  a  bargain. 

MINER'S  ANNUAL  CONTRACT. 

This  Agreement,  Made  this day  of A.  D.  i8. . 

Between  The  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company  of  the  first 
part,  and of  the  second  part. 

Witncsscth,  That  the  said  party  of  the  second  part  has  agreed, 
and  by  these  presents  does  hereby  agree,  to  enter  into  the  em- 
ployment of  the  said  party  of  the  first  part,  as  a  miner  of  coal 

to  commence  on  the day  of A.  D.  i8. .,  and 

continue  therein  until  the  first  day  of  May,  A.  D.  i8. .,  and  to 
abide  by,  adhere  to  and  observe  the  rules  and  regulations  set  out 
and  printed  on  the  back  hereof,  numbered  from  one  to  eleven, 
inclusive,  and  which  are  hereby  made  a  part  of  this  contract,  to 
the  like  extent  as  if  herein  written. 

The  party  of  the  first  part  hereby  agrees  to  pay  the  party  of 
the  second  part,  for  each  and  every  ton  of  screened  coal  mined 
by  the  party  of  the  second  part,  delivered  in  pit  cars  at  the  face 
of  the  coal,  after  being  weighed,  passing  over  a  screen,  the  bars 
of  which  shall  not  be  more  than  seven-eighths  (J^)  of  an  inch 
apart,  as  near  as  the  same  can  be  made,  and  the  width  and 
length  of  which  shall  not  exceed  the  dimensions  of  the  screens 

now  in  use  by  the  party  of  the  first  part,  the  sum  of cents 

per  ton  of  2,000  pounds,  and  for  each  and  every  ton  of  2,000 


A       FREE       CONTRACT.  I  1 3 

pounds  of  the  run  of  the  mine  or  for  unscreened  coal,  the  sum 
of cents  per  ton  of  2,000  pounds. 

The  said  party  of  the  second  part  further  agrees  to  and  with 
the  party  of  the  first  part,  that  the  price  herein  agreed  to  be 
paid  by  the  party  of  the  first  part  for  all  coal  mined  in  the  so- 
called  Third  Vein  of  the  mines  of  the  party  of  the  first  part, 
whether  the  same  shall  be  screened  or  unscreened  coal,  shall  be 
in  full  consideration  to  the  said  party  of  the  second  part  for 
keeping  his  room,  or  working  place,  in  good  working  order, 
including  twenty-four  (24)  inches  of  brushing,  which  brushing 
must  be  done  the  full  width  of  the  roadways. 

The  said  party  of  the  second  part  further  agrees  to  assist  the 
pusher  or  driver  employed  by  the  party  of  the  first  part  in  start- 
ing the  loaded  cars  from  the  face  of  the  coal  for  such  distance  as 
may  be  necessary,  provided  such  distance  shall  not  exceed  ten 
(10)  yards  ;  also,  to  take  the  empty  cars  from  the  first  parting 
or  switch,  to  the  face  of  the  coal. 

The  said  party  of  the  first  part  hereby  reserves  the  right  and 
privilege,  however,  of  closing  the  mines  at  any  time,  and  of  dis- 
charging any  miner  for  cause,  including  the  party  of  the  second 
part,  as  the  superintendent,  or  person  in  charge  of  the  mine  for 
the  time  being  may  think  proper ;  but  the  party  of  the  first  part 
agrees  that  in  case  steady  and  continuous  work  cannot  be  fur- 
nished the  party  of  the  second  part  during  the  life  of  this  agree- 
ment, that  such  work  as  may  have  to  be  done,  shall  be  fairly 
divided  with  and  apportioned  to  said  party  of  the  second  part, 
on  the  basis  of  all  the  men  so  employed  at  and  during  such  time. 
All  payments  hereunder  to  be  made  monthly  on  regular  pay 
day,  and  in  compliance  with  the  rules  and  regulations  above 
named,  and  pay  day  is  hereby  fixed  for  and  on  the  Saturday 
nearest  to  the  15th  day  of  each  month,  when  and  at  which  time 
all  wages  or  moneys  that  may  have  been  earned  during  and  in 
the  calendar  month  next  prior  to  such  pay  day  shall  be  paid,  less 
all  moneys  owing  said  party  of  the  first  part  on  any  account 
whatever. 

It  is  hereby  expressly  agreed  and  understood  by  the  party  of 
the  second  part,  that  should  he  become  a  tenant  of  the  party  of 


il4  A    STkikE    OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

the  first  part  during  the  term  of  his  engagement,  then  in  case  of 
the  termination  of  this  contract,  either  by  his  discharge  from  the 
employ  "of  said  first  party,  or  in  any  other  way,  the  term  of  such 
tenancy  shall  at  once  cease  and  be  determined  without  notice, 
and  he  will  vacate  the  premises  so  occupied  by  him,  upon  verbal 
notice  of  the  agent  or  superintendent  of  said  first  party,  written 
notice  to  quit  being  hereby  expressly  waived,  and  on  failure  so 
to  do  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  forcible  detainer  of  such  prem- 
ises, and  that  he  will  not  be  entitled  to  demand  or  receive  any 
part  of  the  wages  due  him  for  labor  performed  (should  the 
party  of  the  first  part  so  elect)  until  such  premises  are  vacated, 
and  the  keys  thereof  delivered  at  the  office  of  the  said  first  party. 

And  the  party  of  the  second  ]art  further  agrees  that  he  will 
not  stop  work,  leave  the  employment  of  the  said  party  of  the 
first  part,  or  join  or  become  a  party  to,  either  directly  or  mdi- 
rectly,  any  strike  or  combination  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining, 
or  the  intent  of  which  is  to  obtain  from,  or  cause  the  company, 
party  of  the  first  part,  to  pay  their  miners  an  advance  of  wages, 
or  pay  beyond  what  is  specified  in  this  contract.  Nor  will 
he  in  any  manner  aid,  abet  or  countenance  any  such  strike,  com- 
bination or  scheme  whatever,  which  has  for  its  purpose  anysuch 
object  or  design,  during  the  time  specified  in  the  first  clause  of 
this  contract.  And  if  the  ?aid  party  of  the  second  part  at  any 
time  shall  violate  any  of  the  provisions  of  this  contract  in  this 
regard,  he  shall  thereby  forfeit  all  claim  for  coal  prior  thereto 
mined  and  not  paid  for,  and  the  said  first  party  shall  be  fully  re- 
leased from  all  liability  on  account  of  this  contract,  or  any  labor 
performed  by  the  said  party  of  the  second  part. 

/;/  Witness  Whereof,  the  said  parties  have  hereunto  set  their 
hands  and  seals,  the  day  and  year  first  above  written. 

THE  SPRING  VALLEY  COAL  COMPANY. 

By [SEAL.] 

Agent  and  Siipenntsndent. 

Witness: 
[seal.] 

(sk^.ned  in  dl'plica'ie.) 

Read  ^le  /'Allies  and  Regulations  on  the  Other  Side. 


A    "FREE    '   CONTRACT.  II5 

RULES    AND     REGULATIONS     OF     THE     SPRING     VALLEY     COAL 

COMPANY. 


Adopted  for  the  Purpose  0/  Regulating  Mining  and  Other  Em- 
ployment in  and  About  their  Coal  Mines. 


I. — Every  employe  of  the  Company  will  be  required  to  lie 
ready  for  duty  when  the  whistle  blows  for  work,  every  morning, 
and  will  be  expected  to  perform  a  full  day's  work  in  his  respect- 
ive line  of  employment,  unless  the  foreman  of  his  department 
orders  less  time  to  be  worked.  Engineers  are  strictly  forbidden 
to  lower  any  miner  or  underground  laborer  into  any  pit  after  7 
o'clock  a.  m.,  without  orders  from  the  Pit-lioss  or  person  in 
charge  of  the  pit  head. 

IT. — No  suspension  of  work  shall  take  place  during  working 
hours,  except  in  case  of  actual  necessity;  nor  shall  any  miner  be 
absent  from  his  work  during  working  hours  without  leave  from 
the  Pit-Boss,  except  in  case  of  sickness  or  other  unavoidable 
contingency  that  would  prevent  him  from  working. 

III. — Any  employe  feeling  aggrieved  in  any  respect,  must 
present  his  claim  to  the  Pit-Boss  in  person.  If  they  fail  to  ad- 
just the  matter  in  a  manner  satisfactory  to  the  employe,  it  may 
be  referred  to  the  Superintendent  (if  either  party  desires),  whose 
decision,  upon  the  hearing  of  both  sides  of  the  question,  will  be 
final.  In  case,  however,  the  complaint  arises  from  personal 
grounds  between  the  Pit-Boss  and  the  miner,  the  Superintend- 
ent, at  his  option,  may  change  the  miner  to  some  other  shaft. 

IV. — Any  employe  who  may  have  been  discharged  by  the 
Company,  or  who,  with  the  consent  of  the  Company,  may  have 
left  its  service,  shall  receive  all  arrearages  of  pay  due  him  at 
once.  The  Company  will  consent  to  their  employes  leaving  their 
service  without  previous  notice,  provided  such  employe  has  con- 
formed to  the  terms  and  conditions  of  this  contract  with  the 
party  of  the  first  part,  and  the  rules  and  regulations  governing 
the  working  of  the  mines. 

v.— No  person  will  be  allowed  to  interfere  in  any  manner 
with  the  employer's  just  right  of  employing,  retaining  and  dis- 
charging from  employment,  any  person  or  persons  whom  the 


Il6  A    STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

Superintendent  or  Pit-Boss  having  charge  of  the  mines  for  the 
time  being  may  consider  proper ;  nor  interfere  in  any  way,  by 
threats  and  menace,  or  otherwise,  with  the  right  of  any  employe 
to  work,  or  engage  to  worlv  in  any  way,  and  upon  any  terms, 
and  with  whom  he  may  think  proper  and  best  for  his  interest, 
or  the  benefit  of  his  family. 

VI. — No  employe  will  be  permitted  to  fill  his  place  by  an- 
other man  without  the  consent  of  the  Superintendent. 

VII. — Every  employe  will  be  paid  once  a  month  at  regular 
pay  day,  all  wages  or  moneys  he  may  have  earned  during  and  in 
the  calendar  month  next  prior  to  such  pay  day,  after  deducting 
any  indebtedness  which  such  employe  may  owe  to  the  Company, 
or  which  the  Company,  with  the  consent  of  such  employe,  may 
have  assumed  to  pay  to  any  other  person. 

VIII.— On  the  side  where  coal  is  not  mined  in  a  miner's 
place,  the  corner  of  the  wall  shall  not  be  more  than  three  (3) 
feet  from  the  face  of  the  coal,  and  shall  extend  six  (6)  feet  from 
the  corner  along  the  face.  The  gob  wall  must  not  be  over  five  (5) 
feet  from  the  face,  and  must  extend  six  (6)  feet  from  the  pack. 
On  the  side  where  coal  is  mined,  the  corner  of  the  pack  must 
not  be  over  two  (2)  feet  from  the  face  of  the  coal ;  the  pack  and 
gob  to  be  built  in  the  same  manner  as  above  ;  the  pack  and  road 
walls  to  be  built  of  brushing  rock  only;  the  gob  and  packs  to  be 
built  to  the  roof.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  every  miner  working 
in  the  mines,  provided  there  is  a  sufficient  supply  of  props,  as 
required  by  law,  to  keep  his  room  or  working  place  in  said 
mines  in  good  order  and  repair,  as  specified  above ;  and  any 
sucli  miner  who  shall  willfully,  carelessly,  or  negligently  suffer 
them  to  get  out  of  such  order  or  repair,  as  above  specified,  and 
who  shall  not  upon  request  immediately  put  the  same  in  repair 
in  the  manner  required  by  these  rules,  the  Company  may  put 
such  places  in  repair  at  the  expense  of  the  miner  in  de- 
fault, and  may  retain  the  amount  of  such  expense  from 
the  next  or  any  future  payment  to  which  said  employe 
would  otherwise  be  entitled,  until  fully  reimbursed  for  such  ex- 
pense. And  in  case  a  room  or  working  place  should  close, 
when  the  miner  has  complied  with  the  above  requirements,  then 


A  "free"  contract.  117 

it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Company  to  put  the  same  in  good 
order  and  repair  at  its  own  expense  ;  if  it  is  found  impossible  to 
stow  all  rock  in  the  gob  and  a  part  must  be  loaded  and  sent  out, 
the  part  sent  out  must  be  fire-clay,  and  not  brushing  rock. 

IX. — No  miner  who  has  left  the  employment  of  the  Com- 
pany, whether  voluntarily  or  by  discharge,  will  be  entitled  to 
receive  any  arrearages  of  pay  due  him  for  labor  performed, 
whether  on  the  regular  pay  day  or  during  the  interval  preced- 
ing pay,  until  he  shall  have  put  his  room  or  working  place  in 
perfect  working  order,  as  required  by  his  contract  with  the  Com- 
pany. All  miners  leaving  said  employment  will  be  required  to 
procure  the  certificate  of  the  Pit-Boss  that  they  have  complied 
with  the  requirements  of  this  rule,  as  aforesaid,  before  making 
application  at  the  Company's  office  for  final  payment. 

X. — Any  tenant  of  the  Company,  upon  leaving  its  service, 
whether  voluntarily  or  by  discharge,  will  not  be  entitled  to  re- 
ceive any  part  of  the  wages  due  him  for  labor  performed,  until 
he  shall  have  vacated  the  premises  occupied  by  him  (shoukl  the 
Superintendent  or  other  person  in  charge  of  the  mines  for  the 
time  being  so  elect),  and  presented  the  keys  of  the  same  at  the 
office. 

XI. — The  miners  may,  at  their  option  and  expense,  employ 
a  Check  Weighman,  whose  duties  shall  be  to  see  that  the  coal  is 
weighed  correctly  by  the  weighman  employed  by  the  Company  ; 
provided  that  the  party  so  employed  shall  be  a  miner  in  the  em- 
ployment of  this  Company,  and  in  good  standing  at  the  time 
he  may  be  selected  for  the  position. 

Under  this  contract  a  man  may  forfeit  his 
pay  for  the  whole  of  one  month,  and  up  to  the 
third  Saturday  of  the  next  month.  The  com- 
pany makes  the  law,  and  is  the  sole  judge  and 
executioner,  allowing  no  appeal. 

The  third  of  the  rules  which  form  a  part 
of  the  contract   makes   the   miner  who    feels 


Il8  A   STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

aggrieved  appeal  "  in  person  "  to  the  pit  boss. 
When  the  men's  union  was  recognized, 
their  remedy  was  quite  dififerent;  much  more 
likely  to  preserve  the  rights  of  the  weaker 
party.  Under  the  union,  the  miners,  when 
aggrieved,  made  their  complaints  to  a  com- 
mittee of  their  own  number,  called  the  pit 
committee.  This  committee  stood  between 
the  boss  and  the  complainant,  and  behind  the 
committee  stood  the  union  of  all_^  the  men. 
The  difference  between  this  kind  of  a  hearing 
and  that  when  the  miner  stands  alone,  with 
nobody  behind  him,  and  asks  for  justice  from 
the  pit  boss,  behind  whom  stands  $500,000,- 
000  and  the  power  of  dismissal,  eviction,  ban- 
ishment and  the  black  list,  does  not  need  to  be 
pointed  out. 

Only  the  company's  pleasure  limits  the  com- 
pany's power  under  these  rules  to  forfeit  any 
arrearages  of  pay  due  the  miner  if  he  leaves 
before  the  end  of  the  year  for  which  he  has 
signed.  No  matter  how  extreme  may  be  the 
emergency  which  calls  him  away,  if  the  com- 
pany chooses  to  say  no  to  his  application  for 
release,  he  can  only  go  by  breaking  his  con- 
tract. If  he  breaks  his  contract  he  may  lose 
as  much  as  six  weeks'  wages,  or  about  one- 
sixth  of  the  actual  income  of  the  year.      If  he 


A  "free"  contract.  119 

must  go,  and  the  company  chooses  to  force 
him  to  break  the  contract,  he  has  no  redress; 
its  decision  is  supreme. 

The  possibilities  of  putting  extra  work   and 
expense  on  the   miner,  under  the    eighth   and 
ninth  rules,  are  limitless.      The  pit  boss  is  the 
sole  judge.      When   the   union  was   the  medi- 
ator between  the  company  and  the   organized 
men,   the   company  would    never    attempt   to 
shift  the  "  deadvvork  "  of  the  mine  on  the  men, 
unless  it  wanted  to  precipitate  a  strike  by  the 
whole  body.      Now  that  no  power  can  inter- 
vene, the  company  has  but  to  say  to  the  miner, 
Do  this.  Do  that,  and  he  must  submit.      There 
has  been  a  steady  increase  year  by  year  in  the 
amount  of  labor  on   the   roadways,   and  other 
deadwork  once  paid  for,  which  the  company 
is  requiring  the  men   to   do  without    compen- 
sation.     The  company  used  to  pay  for  all  the 
"  brushing;"  it  now  compels  the  miners  to   do 
twenty-four  inches  of   it   without  pay.      This 
shifting  of  burdens    will   be    accelerated   since 
the    union    has   been   ruined.      The    men    who 
must  do  so   much   more  unremunerated    work 
in  making  the  roadways,  taking  out  the  rock, 
etc.,  will    have    proportionately  less  time   for 
earning  money  by  mining  coal. 

This  "  free  "  contract  puts  the   workingman 


120  A    STRIKE   OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

under  a  yearl}  bond.  It  makes  him  agree  to 
abide  for  a  year  by  a  scale  of  wages  fixed  as 
summer,  the  dull  season,  is  coming  on.  The 
winter  is  over.  The  demand  for  coal  in  May 
is  at  its  minimum.  Prices  of  coal  are  at  their 
lowest,  and  the  wages  for  the  whole  year  are 
made  proportionate  to  this  ebb-tide  price. 
The  yearly  bond  of  the  contract  says  to  the 
miner:  You  must  forego  any  advantage  that 
might  come  to  you  in  the  more  active  months 
of  the  year.  If  supply  and  demand  vary,  you 
are  not  to  profit  by  it.  No  matter  how  high 
coal  goes,  nor  how  much  our  profits  increase, 
you  must  remain  bound  to  work  for  this 
minimum  wage.  We  may  "  strike  "  the  public 
every  week  for  higher  prices;  you  must  agree 
for  a  full  year  not  to  strike  for  any  change  in 
wages.  And  by  the  ingenious  system  of  keep- 
ing back  each  month's  pay  until  the  middle  of 
the  next  month,  the  employers  always  have  on 
hand  at  least  one  twenty-fourth  of  the  miner's 
whole  annual  income,  to  be  forfeited  if  he  talks 
even  in  his  sleep  about  asking  for"  more."  If 
these  are  free  contracts,  it  is  a  singular  thing 
that  it  should  be  so  difficult  to  get  the  miners 
to  make  them.  They  protest  against  them  in  all 
their  conventions  and  conferences.  After  six 
months  of  idleness  and  famine  at  Spring  Valley, 


A       FREE       CONTRACT.  121 

the  men  stood  out  four  weeks  longer  in  their 
misery,  and  that  of  their  famihes,  in  the  hope 
that  they  might  escape  the  "  free  contract." 
They  were  whipped  into  signing  it,  just  as 
truly  as  the  Southern  slave  was  whipped  to  his 
tasks,  and  more  cruelly. 

The  bald  truth  is  that  this  yearly  contract  is 
slavery.  It  is  slavery  in  yearly  installments. 
Put  together,  year  by  year,  it  is  a  slavery  for 
life.  The  miners,  in  submitting  to  it,  and  we, 
in  allowing  them  to  submit  to  it,  degrade  their 
manhood,  and  that  of  the  republic.  Slavery, 
in  no  matter  how  small  a  spot,  among  a  free 
people,  is  like  a  spark  in  a  cargo  of  cotton,  a 
leak  in  a  ship.  It  cannot  be  so  insignificant 
that  it  does  not  imperil  the  whole.  The  miners, 
to  a  man,  ought  to  resist  this  slavery,  and  the 
public  should  sustain  them  in  doing  so  at  any 
cost.  Relief  given  these  men  in  such  a  strug- 
gle would  not  be  "  charity  ;  "  it  would  be  an 
investment  for  the  defense  of  the  liberties  and 
the  homes  of  the  whole  people,  all  of  which  are 
in  peril,  if  any  are  in  peril.  Our  forefathers 
had  the  wit  to  see  and  act  on  this  wise  scheme 
of  mutual  self-interest ;  have  not  we?  Ourcon- 
stitutions,  laws,  revenues,  expenditures,  public 
policies  at  home  and  abroad,  are  all  operated 
by  the  help  of  the  votes  of  workingmen  who 


122  A    STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

are  thus  subjugated  all  over  the  country  to 
the  will  of  the  lords  of  industry.  Are  these 
votes  likely  to  go  to  the  benefit  of  the  public 
which  unconcernedly  sees  them  denied  their 
rights,  or  to  the  benefit  of  those  who  hold  them 
under  the  yoke  ? 

Spring  Valley  at  the  city  election  in  April, 
1889,  cast  949  votes. 

The  poison  of  these  servitudes  among  the 
people  works  up  and  back  into  the  liberties  of 
the  rest  of  us  just  as  surely  as  the  pestilence  of 
the  slums  creeps  through  the  drainage  of  the 
city  into  the  palace. 

In  defense  of  these  contracts,  it  was  urged 
by  a  newspaper  at  the  county  seat,  the  Prince- 
ton Tribune,  that  under  them  the  miners  "  bind 
themselves  to  work  until  May  ist,  just  as  the 
company  binds  itself  to  furnish  a  certain 
amount  of  coal  "  to  railroads  "  at  a  stipulated 
price,  until  May."  The  comparison  would 
compare  if  the  railroad  got  its  contracts  for 
fuel  out  of  the  coal  company  by  refusing  it  all 
transportation  at  any  price,  as  the  coal  com- 
pany refused  its  miners  work,  until  it  surren- 
dered and"  signed."  No  court  would  uphold 
such  a  compulsory  arrangement  as  a  contract, 
and  the  workingmen  ought  to  have  the  same 


A  "free"  contract.  123 


rights  to  protection  under  the  law  of  contract 
that  the  rich  have. 

Such  arrangements  are  not  contracts.  They 
are  servitudes,  imposed  by  force  and  fraud 
upon  those  who  do  not  consent,  but  submit  by 
compulsion.  The  interesting  question  forces 
itself  at  once  to  the  front  whether,  if  the  miners 
have  not  been  working  under  contract,  they 
are  bound  to  treat  the  wages  they  have  received 
as  payment  in  full.  They  have  against  those 
who  have  taken  the  proceeds  of  their  labor  a 
valid  and  ought-to-be  legal  claim  for  the  unpaid 
difference  between  what  they  have  received 
and  what  they  ought  to  have  received.  The 
enforcement  of  these  claims  will  be  perfectly 
feasible  the  moment  the  people  make  them- 
selves really  what  they  are  now  theoretically, 
their  own  rulers,  and  have  in  the  courts,  legisla- 
ture and  executive  chambers  servants  who 
will  work  for  the  people  instead  of  doing 
tricks  for  privilege.  If  the  millennial  day  ever 
comes  when  those  unjust  men  are  mulcted  to 
restore  to  the  people  what  they  have  filched 
from  them,  they  will  deserve  no  pity.  The 
penalty  will  be  a  light  one  for  their  offense  in 
playing  a  false  part,  betraying  those  who 
trusted  them.  If  they  want  to  make  contracts 
that  will  hold  both  sides,  let  them  make  con- 


124  A   STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

tracts  that  are  contracts.  The  courts  are  every- 
day releasing  business  men  from  contracts  that 
are  held  to  be  no  contracts,  because  of  misun- 
derstanding, inadequate  value  given,  improper 
pressure,  duress,  variance  with  public  policy, 
and  so  on  indefinitely.  Is  this  law  of  contract 
for  a  class  only?  Are  only  the  well-to-do  and 
the  strong  to  have  the  aid  of  the  courts? 


CHAPTER  IX. 

APPEALING  TO  THE  GOVERNOR. 

When  you  of  the  Spring  Valley  Coal  Com- 
pany broke  silence  after  the  lock-out  had 
lasted  more  than  five  months,  and  made  your 
intimidating  offer  of  thirty-five  cents  a  ton,  as 
explained  in  full  in  the  preceding  chapter,  the 
city  officials,  business  men  and  miners  of 
Spring  Valley  made  the  following  appeals  to 
the  governor  of  Illinois: 

Spring  Valley,  September  9,  1889. 
To  the  Hon.  Joseph  Fifer,  Gozienior  of  Illinois. 

Sir — We,  the  Mayor  and  Common  Council  of  the  City  of 
Spring  Valley,  and  the  coal  miners  and  business  men  of  Spring 
Valley,  desire  to  submit  for  your  consideration  a  few  facts  con- 
cerning the  mining  industry  in  this  valley. 

Spring  Valley  is  the  center  of  a  mining  area  of  40,000  acres 
of  the  best  coal  lands  in  Illinois.  The  Spring  Valley  Coal 
Company  owns  the  coal  rights  in  this  vast  tract  of  land.  The 
town  site  of  the  city  of  Spring  Valley  was  also  owned  by  a 
Town  Site  Company,  controlled  by  the  coal  company,  but  it 
has  been  sold  at  high  prices  to  persons  settling  in  the  city. 
There  were  four  mining  plants  operated  here  by  the  coal  com- 
pany until  December,  1888.  The  company  owns  most  of  the 
houses  occupied  by  the  miners,  and  runs  a  "Company  Store," 
at  which  they  are  to  trade.  Coal  mining  is  the  only  industry 
on  which  the  town  depends  for  existence,  there  being  no  facto- 

(125) 


126  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

ries   and   no  stores   save   such  as  deal  in  supplies  to  the  com- 
munity. 

On  December,  1888,  shafts  Nos.  2  and  4  were  shut  down, 
throwing  out  of  work  about  1,000  men.  I'heir  comrades,  know- 
ing that  the  men  and  their  families  thus  turned  into  unexpected 
idleness  in  the  dead  of  winter,  would  starve,  divided  their  own 
work  with  them.  For  the  rest  of  the  winter  every  miner  laid 
off  one  day  in  three  in  order  to  give  part  work  to  all.  This 
lasted  into  ApriL  Then  the  community,  exhausted  by  the 
strain  of  supporting  three  men  and  their  families  on  the  earn- 
ings of  two  men,  received  its  final  blow.  April  29th,  without 
previous  notice  of  any  kind,  all  the  miners  were  told  to  take 
out  their  tools  and  leave  the  mines,  which  they  did.  In  one 
afternoon  their  livelihood  was  taken  from  them,  and  since  then 
no  work  has  been  clone  in  the  Spring  Valley  mines. 

The  results  are  these :  The  entire  mining  pojiulation  here  is 
without  work,  without  income,  without  food  enough  to  main- 
tain a  bare  existence,  and  without  clothing  and  fuel  to  meet  the 
approaching  fall  and  winter.  Women  and  children  are  sick  and 
without  medical  attendance,  medicines,  nourishing  food  or 
proper  nursing.  Wet  weather  is  coming,  to  be  followed  by 
cold,  and  our  people  can  no  longer  go  barefoot,  imclad  and  ill- 
fed,  as  they  have  been  doing.  Hence  our  needs  demand  prompt 
and  vigorous  attention. 

According  to  the  company's  officials,  the  men,  when  mining, 
receive  $43  a  month  each  on  the  average.  According  to  the 
men,  the  average  wage  per  month  was  about  $30  each.  This 
was  when  ninety  cents  per  ton  was  the  rate  paid  for  mining. 
The  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company,  some  time  since  proposed  a 
reduction  in  wages  equivalent  to  about  fifty-five  cents  per  ton. 
In  detail  the  proposition  was  this;  First,  to  reduce  the  rate 
from  ninety  cents  per  ton  seventy-five  cents — being  fifteen  cents 
per  ton  off;  second,  the  men  to  do  thirty  inches  of"  brushing  "  in- 
stead of  sixteen  inches,  as  formerly,  being  fourteen  inches  brush- 
ing additional,  equivalent  to  ten  cents  per  ton  reduction;  and 
lastly,  three  men  to  work  where  two  had  formerly  been  em- 
ployed— a  proposition  in   itself  involving  a  loss  of  nearly  one- 


APPEALING   TO   THE    GOVERNOR.         127 

tliitd  tlie  earnings  of  eacli  man.  The  whole  reduction  by  this 
proposition  would  be  not  less  than  fifty-five  cents  per  ton. 
Whether  the  men,  when  working  at  ninety  cents  per  ton,  got 
$43  per  month,  as  figured  by  the  company,  or  $30  per  month  as 
figured  by  the  men,  it  is  apparent  at  once  that  the  proposed  re- 
duction of  fifty-five  cents  per  ton  would  reduce  their  w^ages  more 
thai!  one-half,  or  from  $43  to  about  $20,  or  from  $30  to  about 
$14' per  month.  Ordinary  intelligence  suffices  to  show  ihe  im- 
possibility of  a  family  living  on  from  $14  to  $20  a  month. 

It  is"  to  be  remarked  here,  that,  while  these  heavy  reductions 
in  wages  were  proposed,  no  suggestion  of  reducing  the  rents  of 
miners  living  in  company  houses,  was  made ;  nor  were  any  re- 
ductions made  in  the  prices  of  coal  or  of  goods  sold  miners  at 
the  company's  store.  On  the  contrary,  on  the  18th  of  July,  the 
miners,  being  unable  to  pay  their  rent,  were  served  with  five-day 
notices  that  their  rent  was  in  arrear,  and  "  that  in  default  of  the 
payment  by  them  of  the  rent  so  due  within  the  time  aforesaid, 
their  right  to  occupy  said  premises  would  cease,  and  proceedings 
would  l)e  instituted  for  the  recovery  of  the  possession  of  said 
premises  in  pursuance  of  the  statute  of  this  State.  (Signed) 
The  Spring  Valley  (Joal  Company." 

We  most  respectfully  point  out  to  you  that  the  men  at  Spring 
Valley  are  not  strikers,  but  are  the  victims  of  two  lock-outs,  one 
last  December  and  the  other  in  April  last.  We  point  out,  too, 
that  the  men  came  here  on  invitation  of  the  company,  and  many 
have  bought  or  built  homes  expecting  to  have  work  with  which 
to  support  their  families  and  to  pay  the  mortgages  they  were 
compelled  to  assume  in  order  to  secure  their  homes.  Instead 
of  work  and  wages,  however,  they  have  had  months  of  enforced 
idleness  and  starvation,  and  the  city  and  mines  of  Spring  Val- 
ley have  been  virtually  abandoned  by  the  men  who  promoted 
the  Spring  Valley  Company,  and  who  laid  out  this  city  and  in- 
duced the  people  to  come  here  to  settle.  We  ask :  Is  it  right 
for  capitalists  to  buy  up  thousands  of  acres  of  land,  lay  out 
towns,  open  mines,  employ  thousands  of  laborers,  and  induce 
many  thousands  more  to  settle  in  their  towns  in  the  expectation 
of  work,  and  then  to  shut  down   the  mines,  stop  wages,  and 


128  A    STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

drive  an  entire  community  to  idleness  and  destitution  ?  Is  this 
right  ?  Do  the  people  of  Illinois  sanction  industrial  organization 
and  business  methods  such  as  these  ? 

Again  we  were  told  in  the  fall  of  iS8S  that  the  success  of 
the  ticket  on  which  you  were  nominated  for  governor  meant 
work  and  wages.  The  presidential  campaign  in  1888  was 
fought  with  appeals  to  workmen  and  promises  of  prosperity. 

Where,  we  ask,  is  the  prosperity  promised  us  ?  It  is  proper 
to  point  out  in  tliis  connection  that  we  are  reduced  to  a  condi- 
tion of  destitution,  notwithstanding  tliese  promises.  Such 
being  the  condition,  we  ask  you  to  consider  the  situation  and  to 
devise  such  measures  for  the  relief  of  the  miners  as  to  you  seem 
proper.      We  would  suggest: 

1.  A  proclamation  calling  our  needs  to  the  attention  of  the 
people  of  the  entire  State,  and  asking  contributions  of  food, 
clothing  and  money,  and  pointing  out  that,  while  some  of  the 
mining  difficulties  have  been  settled,  those  in  Spring  \'alley  yet 
remain.  It  should  be  emphasized  that  the  settlement  of  strikes 
elsewhere  in  the  coal  region  has  caused  the  public  to  slacken  in 
their  contributions  for  relief  in  the  mistaken  belief  that  the 
Spring  Valley  difficulty  was  included  in  the  agreement.  This  is 
an  error.  The  men  are  still  out  of  work,  and  the  situation  at 
Spring  Valley  is  worse  than  it  has  been  elsewhere. 

2.  Place  the  adjutant-general  of  the  State  in  charge  of  a 
suitable  organization  for  the  collection  and  distribution  of  the 
food  and  clothing  needed  here. 

3.  Recognize  the  situation  of  the  Spring  Valley  miners  as  an 
emergency  demanding  instant  action  on  your  part  to  relieve  the 
people,  and  use  for  that  purpose  any  special  fund  of  money  at 
your  disposal.  Surely  there  must  be  means  within  your  control 
to  meet  such  an  emergency. 

4.  Come  to  Spring  Valley  and  personally  investigate  the 
needs  of  the  people  here,  and  supervise  the  measures  you  inaugu- 
rate for  their  relief.  The  devastation  of  the  flood  at  Johnstown 
induced  Governor  Beaver  of  Pennsylvania  to  give  his  per- 
sonal attention  to  the  relief  of  the  sufferers  there,  and  it  is  per- 
tinent to  ask  whether  a  community  of  5,000  persons  in  Illinois 


APPEALING   TO   THE    GOVERNOR.         1 29 

in  the  throes  of  starvation  for  months  is  not  a  catastrophe 
demanding  as  prompt  and  thorough  action  from  the  government 
and  the  people  as  the  disaster  at  Johnstown.  The  people  at 
Johnstown  were  drowned.  Plere  are  living  victims  to  starva- 
tion. We  ask,  therefore,  that  you  will  personally  inspect  this 
battle  of  5,000  miners  with  destitution;  and  we  believe  it  will 
spur  you  to  instant  action. 

5.  Finally  we  ask  you  to  submit  to  the  Legislature,  which 
should  be  convened  in  special  session,  an  inquiry  into  the  con- 
dition of  the  coal  industry  in  this  State,  to  the  end  that  legis- 
lation may  be  framed  adequate  to  afford  permanent  relief  for 
the  laboring  masses  engaged  in  that  industry. 
Respectfully  submitted, 

H.    DUGGAN, 

Mayor  of  Spring  Valley. 
CoxxoR  Keli.v, 
Patrick  Flood, 
Thos.  Linsley, 
Patrick  J.  O'Briex, 
Joseph  Roberts, 
Thos.  Gavin, 
William  Proctor, 
V.  H.  Weis-senberger, 

Aldermen  of  Spring  Valley. 
Spring    Valley    Miners,    in    Mass 

Meeting  Assembled:  By, 
A.  D,  BouRKE,  President. 
Thomas  Brady,  Secretary. 
M.  J.  Covenv,  M.  D. 
H.  Roederer,  Baker. 
J.  H.  Steadmax,  Butcher. 
W.  J.  Nolan,  Grocer. 
Jan  Budnik,  Saloon. 
J.  Hercer,  Mang.  Co-oper.  Store.- 
Jos.  Salzer,  Dry  Goods. 
Michael  Stanton,  City  Clerk. 


I30  A    STRIKE   OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

The  business  men's  letter  was  as  follows: 

Spring  Valley,  III.,  Sept.  lo,  '89. 
To  the  Hon.  Joseph  Fifer,  Governor  of  Illinois. 

Sir — We,  the  undersigned  business  men  of  Spring  Valley, 
respectfully  represent  that  we  came  to  the  city  of  Spring  Valley 
and  invested  our  means  in  business  here  relying  upon  the  prom- 
ises and  prospects  of  the  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company  to  do  a 
large  coal  mining  business — such  a  business,  in  fact,  as  would 
employ  large  numbers  of  miners  and  laborers,  who,  with  their 
wages,  could  buy  our  goods  and  maintain  our  estal^lishments. 

We  further  represent  that  for  nearly  five  months  past  the 
mines  in  Spring  Valley  have  been  shut  down,  and  the  working- 
men  of  this  city  to  the  number  of  nearly  2,500  have  been  out 
of  work  and  out  of  wages  with  which  to  buy  our  goods. 

The  result  of  this  is  that  our  business  is  prostrate,  and  must 
continue  prostrate  until  the  miners  are  given  work  and  are  put 
in  position  to  buy  goods  as  formerly. 

If  the  present  state  of  affairs  continues,  the  business  men  of 
this  city  will  be  driven  out  of  business  by  insolvency  and  almost 
complete  loss  of  trade. 

We,  therefore,  earnestly  ask  of  you  a  personal  investigation 
of  the  mining  difficulties  in  this  place,  and  that  you  take  all 
measures  in  your  power  to  effect  an  early  settlement  of  these 
troubles  and  the  resumption  of  work  in  the  Spring  Valley 
mines.     Respectfully  submitted, 

Berkstresser  &  PoRTERFiELD,  Grocers;  R.  D.  Buchan, 
Clothing,  etc.;  James  1'hom,  General  Merchant;  John  A. 
BuRCHAM,  Glassware;  F.  E.  Mason  &  Co.,  Agricultural  Imp.; 
G.  E.  Reed,  Furniture;  J.  C.  Sitterly,  Livery;  A.  A.  Cady, 
Grocery;  Wm.  Andrew  Smith,  News  Depot;  J.  C.  Pinkley, 
Druggist;  G.  M.  Burrs,  Boots  and  Shoes;  John  Solann, 
Saloon;  James  Powers,  Grocer;  Thos.  Cheeseman,  Jeweler; 
George  Hoffman,  Bakery;  E.  G.  Thompson,  Druggist;  John 
Foester,  Boots  and  Shoes:  John  Donlan,  Shoes  and  Boots; 
S.  M.  Horner,  Hotel;  T.  C.  Kohin,  Principal  of  Schools; 
Jacob  Wahl,  Saloon;  John  McMahon,  Sample  Room; Mrs. 


APPEALING   TO   THE   GOVERNOR.  131 

A.  Davis,  Confectionery;  J.  J.  Osborne,  Hotel  and  Restau- 
rant; Stanton  Bros.,  Sample  Room;  Jos.  Niemshik,  Cigar- 
maker;  Wm.  Klingberg,  Merchant  Tailor;  J.  J.  Callahan, 
Clothier;  Mrs.  R.  Heep,  Hardware,  etc.;  Bernardo  Pera- 
DOTTA,  Saloon;  Martin  Delmagro,  Groceries;  I.  J.  Jagod- 
ziNSKi,  Grocery;  Joseph  Riva,  Grocery;  L.  Frank,  Clothing. 
Hennebry  Bros.,  Clothing;  Jos.  Salzer,  Dry  Goods;  John 
Pick,  Sample  Room;  W.  M.  Murray,  Drugs;  M.  Slowey, 
Groceries.  Geo.  Sittler,  Sample  Room;  P.  Kelley,  Sample 
Room;  James  Hicks,  Sample  Room;  John  Diesbeck,  Sample 
Room;  L.  R.  Dean,  Furniture. 

An  anxious  article  on  "  The  Present  Situa- 
tion," in  the  Spring  Valley  Gazette oiM^y  ist 
of  this  year,  shows  that  both  the  business  men 
and  the  miners  have  reason  to  fear  that  "  the 
ruling  powers  "  intend  to  carry  the  Dooming 
of  the  Town  into  another  twelvemonth  to  force 
another  cut  in  wages.  The  1st  of  May  is  the 
day  for  making  the  contract  for  wages  for  the 
year,  but  when  "  his  "  men  try  to  find  their 
Captain  of  Industry  they  can  only  learn  that 
he  has  gone  east  "  on  business."  What  is  to 
become  of  them  is  evidently  no  business  of 
his.      The  Gazette  says: 

The  1st  of  May  has  arrived,  and  what  will  be  done  remains 
still  unsolved.  Last  Friday  afternoon  a  petition  was  signed  by 
several  hundred  of  the  miners,  and  forwarded  to  the  head  of  the 
company,  asking  him  to  come  out  here  to  try  to  effect  a  settle- 
ment. A  petition  was  circulated  among  the  business  men  in- 
dorsing the  miners'  request.  They  have  received  replies  that  he 
is  east  on  business,  and  will  not  be  back  until  aijout  May  15th. 

At  the  same  meeting  wherein  the  foregoing 


132  A    STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

memorial  was  adopted,  the  following  resolu- 
tions were  also  offered  and  unanimously  adopted 
by  the  miners: 

Whereas,  The  proposition  made  to  reduce  our  wages  is 
both  unjust  and  unreasonable,  as  we  could  not  make  a  bare  sub- 
sistence by  the  hardest  work  on  the  terms  offered;  and 

Whereas,  It  has  been  sufficiently  demonstrated  that  there 
is  no  reason  or  necessity  for  such  a  great  reduction  as  that  which 
the  company  offers.     Therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  we  decline  to  accept  the  proposition  of  fifteen 
cents  a  ton  of  a  reduction,  with  other  terms  which  will  aggre- 
gate  fifty-five  cents  per  ton  of  reduction.      Be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  we  are  ready  and  willing  to  resume  work  on 
the  conditions  governing  the  settlement  at  Streator  and  other 
places  in  this  district  where  a  settlement  has  been  made,  namely, 
seven  and  one-half  cents  per  ton  of  a  reduction  and  last  year's 
conditions. 

On  motion,  Messrs.  Brady,  O'Hare  and  Gil- 
letsky  were  appointed  to  see  Mr.  Dalzell  and 
report  the  above  resolutions.  His  reply  to 
the  committee  was  that  he  would  not  treat  with 
any  committee  or  recognize  any  organization; 
that  he  would  treat  with  the  men  individually. 
Commenting  on  this,  the  Chicago  X>rt//;/iV^w5 

of  September  13th  said: 

The  appeal  of  the  locked-out  miners  of  Spring  Valley  to 
Governor  Fifer,  is  deserving  of  the  prompt  attention  of  that 
public  officer.  The  plain  statement  of  the  cruel  treatment  which 
they  have  received  from  the  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company,  must 
arouse  indignation  in  every  mind.  The  company  built  a  city, 
selling  much  of  the  property  at  a  large  profit  to  merchants  and 
miners,  whom  it  induced  to  settle  there.  The  one  reliance  of 
the  city  was  on  the  mines,     5,000  miners  went  thither  under  the 


APPEALING   TO    THE    GOVERNOR.         1 33 

promise  of  obtaining  work.  Now  the  mines  have  been  shut 
down,  and  Spring  Valley  is  ruined. 

These  locked-out  miners  deserve  the  help  of  the  State  and  of 
all  the  citizens.  They  have  not  struck  for  higher  wages  or  even 
against  a  reduction  of  their  wages.  They  have  been  betrayed 
by  a  soulless  corporation  and  left  to  starve.  By  the  authorita- 
tive action  of  the  governor,  this  infamous  crime  against  labor 
should  be  branded  publicly.  At  the  same  time  the  victims 
should  be  rescued  from  starvation. 

The  people  of  Spring  Valley  must  be  given  help.  A  rich 
man  has  sinned  against  them.  Let  the  rich  now  relieve  their 
wants. 

Instead  of  going  in  person,  in  response  to 
the  appeals  of  the  people  of  Spring  Valley, 
Governor  Fifer  sent  his  adjutant-general  to 
Spring  Valley  to  investigate,  and  gave  the 
matter  afterward  no  further  attention. 

The  report  made  to  Governor  Fifer  by  Adju- 
tant-General Vance  of  his  investigation  is  one 
of  the  curiosities  of  the  literature  of  American 
self-government.  If  such  callousness  to  the 
sufferings  of  the  people,  such  undisguised 
anxiety  to  shield  members  of  an  upper  class 
from  the  exposure  of  their  misdeeds,  such 
cynical  contempt  for  their  victims,  had  been 
exhibited  by  an  agent  of  the  French  court  of 
Louis  XVI.  sent  into  the  provinces  before 
1789,  to  investigate  the  reports  of  a  distress 
among  the  tenants  of  the  seigneurs,  it  would 
have  excited  little  surprise,  although  it  would 
certainly  have  figured  in  the  pages  of  Taine  as 


134  A   STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

a  supreme  illustration  of  the  cxw^Viy  o'i  Vancien 
rciriiiie.     But  when  such  a  document  comes, 
cold  and  calculated,  from  the  official  representa- 
tive  of   a  free   American    commonwealth,   we 
can  only  lose  ourselves  in  puzzling  out  what 
poisonous  influences  they  may  be  which  in  one 
century  have  made   it   possible    for    a    public 
servant  to  put  forth,  and  the  public  to  receive, 
utterances    so    completely    hostile    to   all    the 
sacredest  principles  and  sympathies  of  repub- 
lican democratic  liberty  and  happiness.      The 
legend  of  Marie  Antoinette's  inquiry  why  the 
poor   of  Paris  did   not   eat   cake,    since    they 
could  not  get  bread,  is  well  matched  by  Adju- 
tant-General Vance's  report  at  Spring  Valley. 
"  There  is  a  general  paralyzation  of  all  business 
interests   and   trades,   except  those   dealing  in 
luxuries."     The  hardness  of  heart  which  could 
throw  a  taunt  of  this  kind,  officially,  at  a  peo- 
ple suffering  as  bitterly  as  the   evidence  from 
all  sides  given  heretofore  proves  that  Spring 
Valley  was,  is  an  infallible  index  of  a  want  of 
hardness  of  head. 

Adjutant-General  Vance  was  not  happy  in 
the  task  set  him  of  making  an  investigation  of 
the  state  of  affairs  at  Spring  Valley.  His  true 
place  was  that  which  he  filled  during  the 
summer,  when,  at  the  head  of  the  State  militia. 


APPEALING   TO    THE    GOVERNOR.         1 35 

with  loaded  guns  and  fixed  bayonets,  he 
marched  and  countermarched  through  the 
towns  of  the  coal  regions,  by  order  of  Gov- 
ernor Fifer,  for  a  chance  to  shoot  working- 
men.  The  report  of  Adjutant-General  Vance 
is  as  follows: 

To  His  Excellency,  Joseph    IV.  Fifer,  Coventor  of  IUi)iois. 

Sir — In  compliance  with  your  instructions,  I  proceeded  to 
Spring  Valley  on  the  17th  inst.,  arriving  there  at  9  o'clock 
p.  m.  On  the  morning  of  the  i8th  I  called  upon  Mayor 
Duggan,  and  informed  him  that  I  had  been  sent  by  your  Excel- 
lency to  ascertain  the  exact  condition  and  to  verify  by  personal 
observation  the  representations  made  to  you  as  to  the  suffering 
condition  of  the  people  at  Spring  Valley.  During  the  day  the 
opportunity  was  afforded  me  to  meet  and  converse  with  a  large 
number  of  citizens  upon  the  situation  and  to  ascertain  their  views 
in  reference  to  the  alleged  suffering  in  Spring  Valley.  My  in- 
quiries were  more  particularly  made  with  a  view  to  ascertain  the 
condition  as  to  the  destitution,  starvation,  suffering,  sickness, 
and  general  sanitary  condition.  I  requested  the  mayor  to  point 
out  the  most  prominent  cases  of  destitution,  or  to  have  the 
supervisor  of  the  township,  who  is  ex-officio  overseer  of  the 
poor,  do  so,  as  I  would  prefer  to  base  my  representation  of  the 
situation  to  you  upon  personal  observation.  The  citizens  with 
whom  I  conversed  were  representative  of  the  population  of 
Spring  Valley,  and  included  physicians,  druggists,  police, 
butchers,  mechanics,  miners,  merchants,  professional  men,  and 
business  men  generally. 

The  general  sentiment  expressed  by  these  persons  was  that 
the  memorial  presented  to  you,  and  signed  by  many  of  them, 
was  a  misrepresentation  as  to  the  condition  in  reference  to 
destitution,  starvation,  suffering,  and  sickness;  that  without  any 
consultation  or  concert  of  action  on  their  part,  the  memorial 
was  prepared  and  submitted  to  them  for  signature.  Some 
persons    said  they  were  qpposed  to  the  memorial  as  a  whole; 


136  A    STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

that  no  such  a  condition  existed  as  was  represented;  that  there 
was  no  starvation,  destitution,  or  sickness  worthy  of  mention, 
but  that  they  had  signed  the  memorial  because,  if  they  refused  to 
do  so,  they  would  be  boycotted  in  business.  Others  seemed  to 
take  a  different  view.  While  they  freely  admitted  the  exaggera- 
tions in  reference  to  starvation  and  destitution,  yet  they  urged 
that  there  had  been  a  necessity  for  charitable  work,  and  that 
this  necessity  would  probably  exist  for  several  weeks  after  the 
miners  have  resumed  operations. 

Physicians  stated  that  there  was  very  little  sickness  at  this 
time,  and  their  business  was  much  lighter  than  usual  at  this 
season  of  the  year;  their  cases  were  mostly  of  a  malarial  char- 
acter, and  only  six  cases  of  diphtheria  in  a  mild  form  were  under 
treatment  when  I  left  Spring  Valley.  Druggists  stated  that 
they  had  fewer  requests  for  medicine  from  persons  unable  to  pay 
for  it  than  at  any  time  for  several  years,  and  in  no  instance  had 
they  refused  drugs  to  persons  unable  to  pay  for  them.  There 
is  evidence  of  a  sentiment  of  hostility  toward  both  mine- 
owners  and  miners  among  citizens  not  engaged  in  these  pursuits, 
for  the  reason,  as  stated  by  them,  that  neither  of  the  above 
classes  at  Spring  Valley  seem  to  have  made  much  effort  to  come 
to  an  agreement  or  to  compromise  their  differences.  There  is 
a  vmiversal  expression  that  the  offer  of  75  cents  per  ton  for 
mining*  and  thirty  inches  of  brushing  with  three  men  in  a  room 
would  be  unreasonable,  and  an  unfair  remuneration  to  the  miners, 
and  the  company  is  charged  with  insincerity  in  making  the 
offer.  There  is  an  equallj  strong  conviction  upon  the  part  of 
many  who  should  be  competent  to  judge  that  the  mines  cannot 
be  operated  profitably  at  the  prices  demanded,  and  that  men  living 
upon  charity  should  show  a  disposition  to  concede  and  a  willing- 
ness to  compromise  out  of  the  present  difficulties.  There  is  a 
growing  sentiment  there  that  men  who  will  live  upon  the  charity 
of  a  generous  public  rather  than  to  work  even  at  wages  they 
deem  inadequate  for  their  own  support  are  unworthy  of 
the  sympathy  bestowed  upon  them. 

*  Equal  to  35  cents  a  ton  net. 


APPEALING   TO   THE    GOVERNOR.         137 

From  the  best  information  I  can  obtain  and  from  personal 
observation,  I  do  not  believe  the  population  of  Spring  Valley 
will  exceed  2,500  persons  at  this  time.  There  is  a  general 
paralyzation  of  all  business  interests  and  trades,  except  those 
dealing  in  luxuries. 

Nineteen  licensed  saloons  are  doing  business  at  this  time,  and 
are  apparently  well  patronized  *  notwithstanding  the  depression 
in  business  generally.  At  Spring  Valley  there  are  three  veins 
of  coal ;  the  upper  and  lower  veins  are  about  three  and  one- 
half  feet  in  thickness ;  the  mining  is  done  by  hand,  and  is  paid  for 
by  the  ton.  The  middle  vein,  ranging  from  four  to  six  feet, 
with  an  average  thickness  of  over  five  feet,  is  mined  with 
machines,  and  the  men  operating  them  are  paid  by  the  day. 
There  is  apparently  a  strong  prejudice  existing  between  the  men 
working  in  the  middle  vein  and  those  working  the  other  veins. 
The  men  workmg  the  middle  vein  did  not  cease  working  last 
May,  because  there  was  no  reduction  of  their  wages,  and 
because  they  were  satisfied;  but  the  men  operating  the  other 
veins  demanded  of  them  to  quit  work  in  sympathy  with  and  in 
support  of  their  contest  with  the  company,  which  was  refused. 
Since  then  the  men  working  the  middle  vein  have  been  termed 
"blacklegs  "  by  the  others.  The  relief  committee  of  the  miners' 
union  is  at  this  time  composed  of  fourteen  persons,  with  repre- 
sentatives from  each  nationality.  Mr.  Hill  is  president,  Mr. 
Brady  secretary,  and  Mr.  McNulty  treasurer.  I  was  informed 
by  this  committee  that  it  met  every  morning  at  ten  o'clock.  All 
cases  of  suffering  and  sickness  are  reported  at  this  meeting. 
The  committee  informed  me  that  it  furnished  medicines  and 
delicacies  for  sick  persons,  or  the  money  for  their  purchase  when 

*  L.  W.  B.,  the  very  intelligent  correspondent  of  the  Chicago  Inter 
Ocean,  fast  and  faithful  organ  of  the  State  Government  General  Vance 
represents,  was  at  Spring  Valley  a  few  days  before  the  adjutant- 
general.  Here  is  what  he  says  about  the  saloons  which  General  Vance 
declared  to  be  so  "well  patronized  :  " 

THE  PLACE  IS  ABSOLUTELY  DEAD. 

Even  the  saloons  are  quiet.  There  were  forty-three  of  these  before 
the  lock-out.  There  are  now  only  nineteen,  and  they  are  quiet  as  the 
grave,  except  one  near  the  hotel.  I  heard  a  good  deal  of  noise  in  this 
one,  but  found  that  the  merrymakers  were  some  young  men  who  are 
clerks  in  the  company's  offices.     No  one  else  has  money  to  spend. 


138  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

they  were  supplied  with  funds.  The  committee  informed  me 
that  they  issue  provisions  every  Saturday  from  their  supply 
store.  The  issues  are  made  upon  the  basis  of  a  value  of  21  cents 
to  the  head  of  a  family  and  14  cents  each  for  the  women  and 
children.  This  committee  commenced  receiving  money  and 
relief  supplies  May  29th,  and  had  received  in  cash  up  to  Sep- 
tember 19th,  $2,368.67.  Cash  on  hand  that  date,  $239.31. 
The  supplies  reported  received  are  from  miscellaneous  sources 
to  the  value  of  about  $Soo;  three  car-loads  of  provisions  from 
Chicago,  valued  at  about  $1,000  each,  two  car-loads  from  Peoria  ; 
from  Sheffield,  one  ton  of  flour  and  otiier  supplies  ;  from  Chi- 
cago, four  barrels  of  meat  and  fifteen  barrels  of  flour.  The 
committee  reports  that  they  are  supplying  aid  to  405  heads  of 
families  ;  the  total  number  of  persons  is  1,704,  of  whom  there 
are  901  English  speaking,  189  Poles,  339  Erench,  93  Germans, 
loi  Italians,  and  72  Swedes.  The  committee  states  that  these 
persons  will  not  be  self-supporting  for  at  least  one  month  after 
the  mines  resume  operations.  There  are  at  least  200  of  the  miners 
that  live  at  Spring  Valley  who  are  working  at  Loceyville,  Ladd, 
and  other  points,  all  within  a  few  miles  of  Spring  Valley.  This 
committee  states  that  it  has  (except  to  six  persons)  refused  to 
issue  supplies  to  those  who  work  in  the  middle  vein,  for  the 
reason  that  they  do  not  think  they  need  relief 

The  relief  committee  denies  that  it  has  advised  men  not  to 
go  elsewhere  for  work  as  a  committee,  and  that,  if  advice  of  this 
kind  has  been  given,  it  has  been  by  individuals  of  their  own 
volition.  From  the  best  information  I  could  get  from  the 
citizens  and  relief  committee,  I  do  not  believe  there  are  to  exceed 
250  idle  miners  in  Spring  Valley  at  this  time.  Advertisements 
are  posted  in  Spring  Valley  calling  for  500  miners  at  Streator; 
fifty  at  Yoimgstown,  Ohio;  200  at  Centerville,  Iowa,  and  sixty 
at  Sandoval,  111.  An  agent  of  the  last-named  company  was  in 
Spring  Valley,  but  could  secure  no  men.  I  have  seen  a  letter 
from  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Miners'  Union  at  Spring 
Valley  to  the  Chenoa  Coal  Company  which  says:  "  Now,  if  you 
would  guarantee  me  that  men  could  make  $2.50  per  day,  or  you 
make  them  up  to  that,  I  would  send  you  twenty-five  good  men. 


APPEALING   TO   THE    GOVERNOR.         139 

if  you  would  build  them  houses  to  live  in,  as  all  the  single  men 
is  about  out  of  here.  There  is  agents  here  every  day  paying 
men's  fare  to  go  to  all  parts  of  the  country  to  dig  coal,  so  you 
see  it  will  be  hard  to  get  men  if  they  can't  make  $2.25  or  $2.50 
per  day." 

In  the  above  I  have  given  you  an  accurate  report  of  the  ex- 
pressions and  views  of  others,  and  of  the  situation  as  I  found  it. 
I  believe  that  there  should  be  an  organized  system  of  relief 
established  by  the  citizens  of  Spring  Valley  outside  of  those  en- 
gaged in  the  mining  industry,  for  the  benefit  of  women,  children, 
and  sick  persons  only,  and  continued  until  the  necessity  for  or- 
ganized charity  had  ceased.  I  ascertained  that  there  had  been 
no  action  taken  by  the  township  or  county  authorities  in  their 
official  capacity  to  relieve  any  want  and  destitution  that  may 
have  existed.     Respectfully  submitted. 

Joseph  W.  Vance,  Adjutant  General. 

The  slur  about  the  miners  preferring  to  Hve 
on  charity  instead  of  work  is  paraded  with 
an  eagerness  which  bhnds  the  "general"  to 
the  fact  that  his  own  statement  further  along 
that  "  there  are  not  250  idle  miners  in  Spring 
Valley,"  where  there  had  been  2,500,  proves 
that  these  people  did  not  prefer  charity  to 
work.  He  pauses  with  evident  relish  on  the 
statement  "  that  nineteen  licensed  saloons  are 
doing  business  at  this  time,  and  apparently 
well  patronized."  His  anxiety  to  defend  the 
cruel  oppressions  of  the  people  by  showing 
that  the  wretchedness  is  due  to  the  viciousness 
of  the  poor  prevents  him  from  seeing  that  he 
has  himself  furnished  the  disproof  of  his  own 


HO  A    STRIKE   OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

Statement.  It  is  impossible  that  250  miners, 
idle  ones  at  that,  should  be  able  to  keep  nine- 
teen saloons  "apparently  well  patronized." 
The  report  is  couched  throughout  in  language 
studiously  calculated  by  such  phrases  as  those 
about  preferring  charity  to  work,  the  prosper- 
ity of  dealers  in  luxuries,  the  extensive  patron- 
age of  the  nineteen  saloons  by  the  250  impe- 
cunious miners,  the  non-existence  of  the  alleged 
destitution,  and  so  forth,  to  create  the  impres- 
sion that  Spring  Valley  had  no  grievances  but 
its  own  wickednesses,  and  no  need  of  other 
relief  than  reform.  But  the  lack  of  head  again 
upset  the  structure  of  the  lacking  heart  by 
concluding  with  a  recommendation  for  an  or- 
ganized system  of  relief  to  be  "  established  by 
the  citizens  of  Spring  Valley,  outside  of  those 
engaged  in  the  mining  industry."  This  rec- 
ommendation is  made  apparently  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  implying  a  slander  against  the 
Miners'  Relief  Committee,  against  whom  no 
open  charges  are  attempted  to  be  brought,  but 
its  only  effect  was  to  undo  all  the  elaborate 
effort  of  the  preceding  parts  of  the  report  to 
show  that  no  need  of  relief  existed. 

This  report  throws  no  light  on  the  condition 
of  affairs  at  Spring  Valley.  Any  intelligent 
reader  can  make  from  the  evidence  given  in 


APPEALING   TO    THE   GOVERNOR.         14I 

this  book  a  much  clearer  and  fairer  statement. 
But  that  such  a  document,  in   face  of  all   the 
facts,  should  have  been  submitted  to  the  gov- 
ernor by   a  high  official    of  the   State,   should 
have    been     received     by    him,    and     without 
rebuke  or  correction,  despite   its  open  incon- 
sistencies of  statement  and  ugliness  of  temper, 
should  have  been   given    to  the  public  as  the 
only  contribution    the   representatives    of   the 
people  could   or  would   make  to   the  relief  of 
Spring   Valley,    is    a    social    fact   of   immense 
import.      It  shows  how  high  class  hatred  runs 
between  the  rich  and  the  people  in  America. 
It  shows  that  the  downfall  of  the  republic  has 
gone   so   far   that  the   people  have   lost   their 
hold  on   their  rulers.      These  are  not  afraid  to 
flaunt  openly  their  contempt  of    the   people, 
and  to  display  unreservedly  their  subservience 
to  the  real   power  that   governs  the  American 
people  —  the  money  power — the  power  of  the 
few  comparatively   millionaires    and   corpora- 
tions who  do  the  thinking  and  leading  in  courts, 
markets   and  legislatures  for  the  250,000  per- 
sons who,  according  to  Thomas  G.  Sherman, 
in   his   article  on  "  The  Owners  of  the  United 
States,"  in    the    Forum  of    November,    1889, 
already  possess  this  country.    No  one  who  knew 
that   on   one  side  of  the  Spring  Valley  case, 


142  A    STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

there  were  a  dozen  and  more  of  the  greatest 
milHonaires  owning  America,  besides  two  or 
three  very  powerful  and  very  impudent  and 
very  disloyal  corporations,  and  that  on  the 
other  side  there  were  only  a  few  thousand 
outraged  citizens,  would  have  dreamed  that 
any  governor  would  allow  even  a  tone  of  sym- 
pathy for  "  the  people  "  to  escape  him  officially. 
It  is  safe  in  America  for  "  rulers  "  to  treat  the 
people  with  contempt;  it  is  not  safe  for  them 
to  thwart  the  plans  of  the  money-power,  not 
even  if  they  are  plans  to  rob  and  murder  the 
poor.  The  money-power  can  prevent  the 
nomination,  election  or  confirmation  of  any 
official  obnoxious  to  them.  The  people  have 
no  power  in  politics  except  to  choose  between 
two  sets  of  candidates,  selected  by  the  myste- 
rious forces  of  the  caucus,  and  both  wanting 
office  only  to  do  the  work  and  get  the  boodle 
of  the  money-power.  Why  should  a  governor 
or  his  adjutant-general  care  for  the  people? 
They  will  beg  for  their  votes  like"  Coriolanus  " 
in  Shakespeare's  play,  but  only  that,  like 
Coriolanus,  they  may  get  the  power  with 
which  to  betray  them  and  the  republic. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE    CAMPAIGN    OF   SLANDER. 

Not  content  that  these  hapless  people  had 
been  thus  drawn  into  an  ambush  of  starvation, 
and  driven  upon  the  wasting  summit  of  a 
new  and  broader  Starved  Rock  than  that  of 
the  Indian  legend  which  shadows  the  Illinois  a 
few  miles  beyond  Spring  Valley,  youhave  taken 
every  means  to  rob  them  of  the  help  and  sym- 
pathy of  the  public.  The  siege  was  made  one 
of  moral  as  well  as  physical  starvation.  A 
stream  of  false  information  was  poured  into 
the  ears  of  the  country.  Everything  the  min- 
ers said  was  garbled,  all  that  they  did  misrep- 
resented. To  such  an  extent  was  this  carried 
that  it  is  literally  true  that  not  a  single  state- 
ment on  any  crucial  point  has  been  made  by 
the  company  that  was  not  misleading  to  the 
public  and  unjust  to  the  men. 

To  alienate  public  sympathy,  which  was 
defeating  the  attempt  to  starve  these  men, 
your  agents  have  dwelt  with  ceaseless  itera- 
tion on  the  willingness  of  the  men  to  live  on 

(143) 


144  A   STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

charity  instead  of  work,  although  almost  all 
left  their  homes  in  search  of  work.  You  have 
stated  repeatedly,  as  you  did  in  your  letter  of 
August  24th,  that  you  had  offered  the  men 
$1.75  and  $2  a  day  to  work  in  your  middle 
vein,  and  ingeniously  made  the  unsophisti- 
cated  public  believe  that  your  men  refused  it 
and  preferred  to  live  on  charity  rather  than 
work.  You  omitted  to  state  that  your  middle 
vein  could  give  work  to  only  fifty  or  one  hun- 
dred men,  only  two  or  four  out  of  every  hun- 
dred you  discharged,  to  all  the  rest  of  whom 
you  refused  all  work.  Nor  did  you  state  that 
the  men  offered  to  work  there,  but  you  would 
not  listen  to  them  because  they  came  in  com- 
mittee. One  of  the  latest  instances  of  mis- 
representation of  the  men  was  the  state- 
ment in  the  letter  to  the  citizens  of  Spring 
Valley,  published  November  1st,  that  "  the 
final  decision  of  the  men  is  that  they  will  not 
sign  any  contract  nor  be  governed  by  any 
rules,"  the  fact  being  that  the  men  had  made 
every  effort  to  get  a  two-handled  contract  out 
of  you,  and  had  in  mass-meeting  agreed  to 
abide  by  the  rules  of  last  year. 

Very  cunningly  was  the  campaign  of  slander 
to  check  the  streams  of  relief  carried  on.  Only 
special  knowledge  of  the  subject  could   save 


THE   CAMPAIGN    OF   SLANDER.  145 

outsiders  from  being  deceived,  and  this  knowl- 
edge the  public  did  not  possess.  The  pre- 
possessions of  many  of  the  leaders  of  the  busi- 
ness world  were  unalterably  against  the  men, 
and  they  willingly  believed  the  evil  report. 
The  essence  of  "  business  "  is  to  get  out  of  the 
workingmen  more  than  is  given  them.  It  is 
out  of  that  margin  of"  profit"  that  our  large 
fortunes  and  gigantic  business  revenues  are 
scooped.  One  of  the  great  model  merchants 
of  Chicago  was  asked  for  a  contribution  of 
some  of  his  canned  beef  tea,  for  the  sick 
women  and  children  of  Spring  Valley. 

"  No,"  was  the  reply,  "  we  will  give  nothing 
to  men  on  strike."  His  philosophy  was  clear 
and  simple.  The  employer,  like  the  king,  can 
do  no  wrong.  To  explanations,  assurances, 
offers  of  proof  that  the  trouble  was  not  a  strike, 
but  a  lock-out,  his  ears  were  deaf  The  work- 
ingmen must  be  wrong.  But  "  nothing  is 
asked  for  the  men,"  was  then  urged;  this  beef- 
tea  is  wanted  for  the  sick  women  and  children, 
and  I  promise  you  it  shall  be  given  only  to 
them,  and  only  upon  a  physician's  order." 
Still  deaf  in  heart  and  head.  "  If  the  work- 
ingmen choose  to  place  their  wives  and  children 
where  they  will  die  for  want  of  food,  or  medi- 
cine, or  doctors,  so  let  it  be.      We  will  not  do 


146  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

anything. "    Slanders  against  the  miners  lodged 
easily  in  such  soil;  to  weed  them  out  was  hope- 
less.     The  inexperience  of  the  general  public 
made  them  ready  dupes  to  the  stories  that  the 
miners  refused  to  work  at  high  wages,  because 
they  wanted  higher;   that  they  were  bad  and 
desperate  men;   that  the    mines   could   not  be 
operated    in    competition    with    the    mines  of 
southern   Illinois  unless  wages  were  cut,  etc. 
You  assured  the  public,  through  your  letter  to 
the   governor  of  September   25th,  that   there 
was  no  profit  in  the   operation   of  the   mines, 
and   the   public   actually   got   to    believe   that 
your  mines  were  a  sort  of  eleemosynary  enter- 
tainment run  by  you  for  the  benefit  of  humanity 
in  general,  and  your  miners  in  particular,  with 
no  possibility  of  return    to  yourself.      It   now 
leaks  out  that,  while  making  these  statements 
to   the    public,    a    large    stockholder     in    the 
coal  company  was  buying  up   the  interests  of 
smaller  holders.      And  while  you  were  making 
these  misstatements,  other  mines  were  working 
the    same   veins   in   your    neighborhood   with 
success.     The  White  Breast  Fuel  Co.  of  Iowa, 
a  powerful  corporation,  believed  to  be  a  sort 
of  Siamese  twin-brother  of  the  Chicago,  Bur- 
lington  &   Quincy  Railroad,   was  spending  a 
great  many  "thousands  of  dollars  at   the   same 


THE    CAMPAIGN    OK   SLANDER.  147 

time  a  few  miles  away,  in  sinking  shafts  to 
reach  the  same  veins.  Up  to  October  all  its 
shafts  had  been  failures,  owing  to  water  or  some 
other  trouble,  but  the  company  cheerfully  kept 
on  sinking  new  shafts.  Its  managers  knew 
what  they  were  about.  They  had  heard  all 
about  the  bugaboo  of  "  Southern  Illinois 
competition."  They  knew  there  was  a  prize 
in  the  Spring  Valley  neighborhood,  and  that 
it  was  well  worth  sinking  thousands  of  dollars 
to  get  to  it.  Such  facts  make  it  ridiculous  to 
waste  time  over  your  assertion  that  the  mines 
were  not  profitable. 

Well  informed,  indeed,  must  he  have  been 
who  could  detect  all  the  different  varieties  of 
untruths  with  which  the  cause  of  the  men  was 
met  in  street,  parlor,  newspaper,  business  office. 
During  a  visit  at  Spring  Valley  I  learned  at 
first  hand  that  an  offer  had  been  made  to  the 
company,  at  the  instigation  of  business  men, 
anxious,  naturally,  to  see  the  miners  at  work 
again,  by  about  fifty  miners,  to  work  the 
middle  vein,  where  .only  that  number  could 
then  be  employed.  The  offer  had  been  sent 
on  to  the  head  of  the  company  for  approval  or 
the  reverse.  Imagine  the  surprise  with  which 
I  read  in  the  next  day's  issue  of  one  of  the 
leading  newspapers  of  the  country  a  telegram 


148  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

from  spring  Valley  announcing  that  the  com- 
pany had  offered  the  miners  this  work,  and  that 
the  miners  had  refused  it— just  the  reverse  of 

the  facts. 

In  an  interview  with  the  manager  of -the 
company  I  asked  why  you  had  decreed  the 
destruction  of  the  miners'  union. 

"  Just  look  at  that,"  he  said,  in  a  charmingly 
confidential  and  I-don't-mind-telling-you-all-I- 
know  sort  of  air,  "  and  you'll  never  ask  that 
question  again." 

What  he  had  to  show  me  was  a  little  four- 
page  circular  of  the  "  By-Laws  and  Rules  " 
governing  Lodge  26  of  the  Miners  and  Mine 
Laborers. 

"  What    is    it    you    specially   object  to?  "    I 

asked. 

"  All  of  it,  but  look  particularly  at  this  Rule 
XIII.:  'Any  man  found  with  another  man's 
tools,  shall  be  subjected  to  the  following  pen- 
alties: First  offense,  suspension  for  ten  work- 
ing days;  second  offense,  suspension  for  thirty 
days;  third  offense,  unconditional  discharge 
from'the  works.'  Now,"  he  said,  "  how  would 
you  like  to  have  your  employes  usurp  the  right 
of  discharging  your  workmen?" 

Of  course,  I  wouldn't  like  that  if  I  were  an 
employer,  and   I  said   so.      I  went  away  con- 


THE    CAMPAIGN   OF   SLANDER.  149 

vinced  that-there  was  more  in  the  "  tyranny  of 
labor  organizations  "  than  I  had  believed. 

This  was  so  important  that  I  spent  some  time 
getting  at  the  bottom  of  it. 

The  truth  —  carefully  withheld  by  the  man- 
ager—  was,  I  found,  that  these  dreadful  rules 
and  by-laws  were  a  joint  agreement  which  had 
been  made  between  the  company  and  the  men 
for  their  mutual  convenience  in  settling  the 
various  questions  that  arise  in  mining  between 
employer  and  employe.  They  were  the  com- 
pany's rules  as  well  as  the  men's. 

The  use  of  detectives  has  become  a  feature 
of  the  "  harmony  "  between  American  labor 
and  capital.  It  is  one  of  the  most  significant 
symptoms  of  the  true  condition  of  our  indus- 
trial relations.  Espionage  and  tyranny  have 
always  gone  together.  Power  that  has  to 
uphold  itself  by  the  use  of  spies  is,  self-con- 
fessedly, a  power  that  stands  by  force,  not  by 
consent.  The  use  of  spies  by  a  government 
shows  that  it  is  despotism,  because  it  is  not 
founded  on  the  free  consent  of  the  governed. 
The  use  of  spies  by  an  employer  is  proof  con- 
clusive that  the  relations  between  him  and  his 
"  hands  "  are  not  those  of  free  contract.  It  is 
one  of  the  mischievous  features  of  the  present 
system  that  it  has  made  the  captains  of  Indus- 


I50  A    STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

try  SO  rich,  and  taken  them  so  far  away  from 
actual  touch  with  the  people,  that  they  have  to 
depend  on  the  report  of  intermediaries  and 
detectives.  These,  by  resistless  laws  of  their 
kind  of  human  nature,  will  tell  their  principals 
the  things  they  think  these  would  like  to 
know,  and  will  create,  if  they  cannot  dis- 
cover, the  conspiracies  and  bugaboos  which 
make  their  services  continuously  indispensable. 
Spies  sent  from  Pennsylvania  worked  in  the 
Spring  Valley  mines  for  months  before  the 
lock-out  of  December,  and  it  was  no  doubt 
largely  on  the  report  made  by  them  that  the 
policy  of  the  company  was  determined.  De- 
tectives, claiming  to  be  Pinkertons,  were  sent 
to  town  during  the  troubles  between  the  com- 
pany and  the  men.  It  was  on  the  strength  of 
the  inebriated  imagination  of  one  of  these 
worthless  men  that  the  idea  gained  credence 
that  the  miners — the  most  peaceful  men  in 
the  world  —  contemplated  a  resort  to  mob  vio- 
lence. These  lying  reports  found  ready  echoes 
in  the  guilty  consciousness  of  the  company  that 
its  lock-out  was  a  daily  repeated  act  of  violence 
against  the  lives  of  the  people.  The  com- 
pany's office  was  hastily  converted  into  an 
arsenal,  and  repeating  rifles  with  their  deadly 
ammunition  were  sent  in  large    quantities  to 


THE    CAMPAIGN    OF    SLANDER.  151 

defend  those  whose  only  assailants  were  their 
own  consciences  and  the  mercenary  imagina- 
tions of  spies.  These  detectives  went  so  far 
as  to  make  their  defiling  rendezvous  in  the 
church. 

While  the  people,  with  incredible  gentle- 
ness, were  bearing  this  great  burden  of  want, 
wondering,  as  Father  Huntington  said  of  them, 
"  with  a  look  of  bewilderment  creeping  over 
their  faqes — wondering  why  they  must  die," 
your  associated  millions  put  out  such  asser- 
tions as  this,  over  the  signature  of  your  repre- 
sentative, the  president  of  the  company, 
in  a  letter  in  the  Chicago  Times  of  October 
lOtli:  "  If  property  has  depreciated  in  value,  it 
is  the  result  of  a  condition  of  anarch}',  There 
is  no  law  in  Spring  Valley  to-day.  Property 
rights  are  not  recognized  there,  nor  is  the  life 
of  any  man  safe  there,  after  dark  unless  it  be 
that  of  a  man  who  is  well  armed  and  able  to 
protect  hiinself. "  This  was  indeed  stoning 
those  who  asked  for  bread.  Little  need  be 
added  to  what  Father  Huntington  says  in  his 
letter  on  page  71,  to  show  that  these  people 
not  only  had  not  the  brutal  instincts  which 
could  find  gratification  in  violence,  but  had  the 
wit  to  know  how  -irretrievably  any  disorder 
would  hurt  them.      Such   a  slander  could  have 


152  A    STRIKE    OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

been  uttered  against  this  deeply  injured  com- 
munity in  this  hour  of  suffering  only  by  the 
heart  which  had  deliberately  created  misery  to 
make  dividends.  It  was  not  true,  but  it  helped 
create  public  opinion  against  the  people,  and 
checked  the  relief.  The  charge  was  especially 
cruel,  because  Spring  Valley  has  always  been 
phenomenalh'  peaceful.  In  four  years  there 
has  only  been  one  murder  there,  and  that  was 
done  by  a  railroad  hand,  not  a  miner.  Crime 
of  all  kinds,  has  been  practically^  unknown. 
People  went  to  bed  safely  without  locking 
their  doors.  For  a  new  town  with  a  popula- 
tion of  5,000,  gathered  suddenly  from  all  parts, 
and  out  of  all  nationalities,  this  is  a  record 
which  can  probably  not  be  matched  elsewhere. 
It  confirms  what  has  been  said  about  the  select 
character  of  the  people.      They  were  the  pick. 

Even  during  the  excited  days  when  — no  out- 
break of  any  kind  having  taken  place — the 
streets  were  taken  possession  of  by  heavily 
armed  men,  deputy  sheriffs,  called  in  because 
the  company  said  it  expected  trouble,  and  when, 
following  them,  several  companies  of  militia 
came  with  loaded  guns  and  fixed  bayonets, 
the  people  kept  their  temper  on  the  whole 
marvelously.  Some  stones  were  thrown, 
some  windows    broken.      The    little    disorder 


THE   CAMPAIGN    OF    SLANDER.  1 53 

there  was,  though  not  justifiable,  was,  Father 
Power  declared,  provoked  by  the  behavior  of 
the  deputies.      The  grand  jury  of  the  county, 
mostly  farmers,  and  not  partial  to  labor  union- 
ists, could  find  nobody  deserving  of  indictment, 
and  when  the  militia  went  home,  they  sent  back 
contributions  for  the  relief  of  the  people  they 
had  been  summoned  to  shoot.      Mr.  Murtha, 
marshal  of  Spring  Valley,  says:  "  I  have  been 
a  policeman  in  London  and  elsewhere  in  Eng- 
land,   marshal   in     La  Salle    for  many  years, 
marshal  here,  I  have  been  for  twenty   years 
in  one  way  and  another  an   officer  of  the  peace, 
and  in  all  that  time  I  have  never  seen  a  quieter, 
more    peaceful    and    law-abiding    town    than 
Spring   Valley."     This   was    said,  too,  during 
the  lock-out,  and  after  the  affair  of  the  deputy 
sheriffs,    and     the    militia.      The    attitude     of 
the    miners    when    the    deputy     sheriffs     and 
militia    were    quartered   on     the     town     sug- 
gests   many    resemblances    to    the    behavior 
of  the  people   of  Boston  under  the  provoca- 
tions of  the  presence  of  the  British  soldiers  in 
1770,  except  that  the  miners  were    more  pa- 
tient than  the  Bostonians.      The  miners  called 
the  citizens  to  unite  with  them  in  a  mass-meet- 
ing June  2d,  at  which  the  following  preamble 
and  resolutions  were  adopted: 


154  A    STRIKE    OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

Whereas,  The  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company,  after  having 
locked  us  out  since  the  29th  day  of  April,  without  having  given 
us  any  information  of  why  they  did  so;   and, 

Whereas,  Htiving  now  brought  to  our  city  without  cause 
or  warrant  the  sheriff  and  posse,  for  the  purpose  of  creating 
disturbance  in  our  otherv.dse  peaceable  city,  who  have  insulted 
and  abused  a  number  of  our  citizens  who  are  pursuing  their 
ways  peaceably,  not  having  violated  any  law;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  citizens  of  Spring  Valley,  condemn 
the  action  of  the  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company  as  unwarranted, 
pernicious,  and  un-American,  and  calculated  to  disturb  the 
peace  of  the  city,  thus  prostituting  the  rights  of  our  citizens  to 
serve  their  private  ends ; 

Resolved,  That  though  these  parties  are  here  for  the  pur- 
pose of  causing  disturbance,  we  will  thwart  them  in  their  efforts 
by  counseling  peace  and  a  strict  observance  of  the  law,  which 
they  are  determined  to  make  us  violate ; 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  be  appointed  to  wait  on 
Mayor  Duggan  and  request  him  to  assert  his  authority  and 
bring  to  justice  those  parties  who  have  been  brought  here 
without  his  leave  or  warrant. 

We  heard  much  from  Spring  Valley  of  an- 
other favorite  accusation  against  the  men: 
That  they  are  prevented  from  working  by  their 
leaders,  who  are  bad  men,  who  terrorize  the 
good  men,  etc. 

In  truth,  every  important  step  taken  by  the 
miners,  as  by  labor  unions  generally,  is  by 
secret  ballot. 

The  men  vote  just  as  they  choose  and  in 
perfect  security. 

In  this  the  labor  organizations  are  far  more 
democratic,  far  more  observant  of  the  opinions 


THE   CAMPAIGN   OF   SLANDER.  I  55 

and  rights  of  dissentients  than  the  organiza 
tions  of  capital.  There  is  nothing  in  labor 
unions  comparable  to  the  dictatorial  power 
exercised  by  the  managers  and  trustees  of 
corporations.  The  unionist  has  a  freedom  of 
speech,  and  vote  on  all  questions,  which  the 
stockholder  does  not  know. 

The  miners  were  published  to  the  world  as 
having  "  refused  to  accept  their  own  offer,"  in 
declining  to  work  when  the  company  in 
October  posted  a  notice  calling  for  miners  to 
go  into  the  middle  vein  at  the  wages  which 
the  miners,  through  President  McBride's  letter, 
had  said  would  be  satisfactory  to  them.  The 
men  were  entirely  right;  they  refused  to  go  to 
work  because  the  company  made  it  a  neces- 
sary part  of  their  proposal  that  the  men  should 
give  up  their  union,  and  make  their  contracts 
as  individuals.  To  have  surrendered  this  point 
would  have  been  to  surrender  something  much 
more  important  than  the  rate  of  wages.  They 
did  not  "  refuse  their  own  offer,"  for  the 
recognition  of  their  union  was  the  most  im- 
portant part  of  their  offer.  But  this  unjust 
and  untruthful  color  was  given  their  action 
and  heralded  through  the  country  in  press  dis- 
patches, and  triumphantly  quoted  by  the  busi- 
ness class   as   another  proof  of   the  perfidious 


156  A   STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

and  shiftless  character  of  the  working  people. 
The  ingenuity  with  which,  in  this  and  other 
countless  ways,  the  course  of  these  unfortu- 
nate miners  has  been  tortured  into  seeming  to 
be  the  opposite  of  what  it  really  was,  has  been 
nothing  short  of  diabolical.  Going  among  the 
men,  nothing  has  interested  me  more  than  to 
see  how  this  continuous  and  perverse  misrep- 
resentation of  what  they  said  and  did  mysti- 
fied them,  until  in  a  kind  of  daze  they  came 
to  accept  it  humbly,  as  part  of  their  lo.t, 
something  in  the  order  of  nature,  that  the 
well-to-do,  the  business  class,  should  be  for- 
ever unable  or  unwilling  to  understand  them. 
Rather  an  unwise  and  unsafe  attitude  this,  it 
has  often  seemed  to  me,  for  a  minority,  even 
if  rich,  to  place  themselves  in  with  regard  to 
the  vast  majority  of  the  people. 

It  was  the  company,  not  the  miners,  which 
"  refused  to  accept  its  own  offer."  October 
iith  a  notice  was  posted  in  the  company's 
window,  that  a  limited  number  of  men  were 
wanted  to  work  in  the  middle  vein,  under 
"  Streator  rules  and  conditions."  It  is  part  of 
the  Streator  rules  that  the  men's  organization 
is  recognized  by  the  company. 

At  a  mass-meeting  of  the  miners  in  Spring 


THE   CAMPAIGN    OF   SLANDER.  I  57 

Valley,  October  i  ith,  the  following  resolutions 
were  passed: 

R.-sohi'd,  That  we  send  a  committee  to  Manager  Dalzell  to 
inform  him  that  we  will  resume  work  on  the  same  conditions  as 
La  Salle  —  namely,  82 >4  cents  per  ton  and  twenty  inches  of 
brushing. 

Henry  Hill,  Joseph  Hercer,  and  Archy 
Hamil  were  appointed  on  the  above  committee, 
with  the  addition  of  IMessrs.  W.  Bailey,  of  the 
Gazette,  and  Mr.  Johnson,  of  the  Sentinel. 

This  committee  retired  from  the  meeting 
and  had  a  short  interview  with  Mr.  Dalzell, 
who  said  he  was  instructed  to  have  nothing  to 
do  with  the  committee  in  any  manner,  and  he 
could  not  listen  to  any  proposition  from  them, 
nor  give  them  any  satisfaction  whatever. 

The  meeting  had  been  called  because  of  a 
notice  being  put  up  in  the  office  window  to  the 
effect  that  the  company  was  going  to  start  the 
middle  vein  Monday,  and  would  give  employ- 
ment to  a  limited  number  of  men.  The  num- 
ber of  men  that  can  be  put  to  work  in  that 
vein  is  between  50  and  100.  The  committee 
asked  Mr.  Dalzell  what  the  conditions  in  that 
vein  would  be.  He  told  them  he  could  not 
tell  them  as  a  committee;  but,  if  any  one  applied 
for  work  as  an  individual,  he  would  tell  him. 
After  much   discussion,  the  miners  arrived  at 


iSB  A   STRIKE   OF  MILLIONAIRES. 

the  conclusion  that  the  middle  vein  was  being 
started  for  the  same  purpose  as  it  was  the  ist 
of  June —  to  use  fifty  or  sixty  men  for  the 
purpose  of  enslaving  several  thousand  —  and 
that  the  purpose  further  was  to  break  the 
miners'  organization,  which  if  accomplished 
would  subject  the  miners  to  abuses  they  have 
before  experienced,  and  with  which  the  present 
reduction  could  not  be  compared.  The  fol- 
lowing resolution  was  then  adopted  unani- 
mously: 

Resolved,  That  no  man  apply  for  work  in  the  middle  vein 
until  the  company  is  prepared  to  give  all  work  and  treat  with 
us  as  a  body. 

In  a  communication  to  the  press  the  miners 
explained  that  there  are  many  men  who  can- 
not understand  the  English  language,  and,  if 
they  applied  in  person,  they  could  not  tell 
what  conditions  the  company  would  impose- 
in  their  contract.  Of  those  who  speak  English 
there  are  many  who  would  not  properly  un- 
derstand the  contracts,  as  the  men  claim  that 
experience  teaches  that  they  are  not  couched 
in  plain  language,  and  that  they  need  the 
closest  investigation  and  consideration.  The 
coal  companies  take  every  advantage  of  the 
miners  when  they  succeed  in  compelling  them 
to    make   agreements   in    this  way  ;    and  then 


THE   CAMPAIGN   OF    SLANDER.  159 

hold  that  they  (the  miners)  are  in  honor  bound 
to  abide  by  them. 

"  All  this  trouble  is  being  made  by  a  few 
leaders  who  never  dug  a  pound  of  coal,"  was 
another  remark  the  representatives  of  the 
company  often  made  to  prejudice  the  public. 

"  Which  of  the  leaders  do  you  refer  to  ?  "  I 
asked  the  superintendent,  for  all  of  them,  as 
far  as  I  knew,  were  practical  miners,  and  had 
worked  in  the  Spring  Valley  mines. 

"  There's  Tom  Brady,  for  one,"  he  said; 
"  he  never  swung  a  pick  in  his  life." 

"  How  is  this,  Brady?"  I  said  to  the  secre- 
tary of  the  miners'  organization,  when  I  next 
saw  him,  "  People  say  you  have  no  right  to 
represent  the  men,  for  you  have  never  been  a 
miner." 

"  Look  at  that  scar,"  he  said,  rolling  down 
his  stocking;  "  that's  where  my  leg  was 
smashed  by  coal  falling  on  it  while  I  was 
workinor;  in  the  mines.  I  have  never  mined 
in  Spring  Valley,  but  I  was  check-weighman 
here,  by  the  consent  of  both  the  men  and  the 
company,  and  the  check-weighman  must  be  a 
practical  miner." 

Even  if  the  leaders  were  not  miners,  why 
should  not  the  employed  be  as  free  to  choose 
their  representatives  as  the   employer  ?     The 


vJ 


1 60  A   STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES 

president  of  the  company  never  mined  a  ton 
of  coal.  The  directors  never  mined  a  ton  of 
coal.  Are  the  rights  of  representative  gov- 
ernment in  industry  for  the  rich  only? 

This  readiness  to  misrepresent  any  fact  so 
as  to  prevent  the  public  from  getting  the  ma- 
terials for  a  true  'understanding  of  the  case 
went  to  recklessness  and  beyond.  Turning 
back  to  the  advertisements  offering  lots  for 
sale  on  pages  24  and  29,  the  reader  will  see  that 
they  are  all  signed  by  the  Spring  Valley  Coal 
Company.  These  advertisements  were  circu- 
lated in  newspapers  and  pamphlets  for  five  years ; 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars'  v.'orth  of  lots 
were  sold  through  them,  and  yet  the  president 
of  the  coal  company,  who  has  acted  as  your 
spokesman  throughout  the  whole  business,  de- 
clared to  the  public,  over  his  own  signature,  in 
a  letter  dated  October  8th,  in  the  Chicago 
Times:  "  The  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company 
has  never,  so  far  as  my  knowledge  goes,  of- 
fered lots  for  sale.  It  has  never,  to  my  knowl- 
edge, disposed  of  any  of  its  realty.  The  sale 
and  purchase  of  lots  at  Spring  Valley  have 
been  entirely  private  transactions  with  which 
the  company  has  had  nothing  to  do."  If  the 
reader  will  compare  these  amazing  assertions 
with   the   closing   lines   of  the   advertisements 


THE   CAMPAIGN   OF   SLANDER.  l6l 

given  above  on  pages  24  and  29,  he  will  fit 
himself  to  judge  correctly  of  the  value  of  all 
the  other  assertions  coming  from  your  repre- 
sentatives. 

One  of  the  officers  of  the  company  repeated 
to  me  the  favorite  refrain  of  their  letters,  inter- 
views, and  statements  that  the  men  did  not 
want  to  go  to  work,  and  had  made  no  eff"ort  to 
get  back  to  work. 

I  knew  better  than  that,  and  said:  "  It  is 
only  a  few  days  since  the  men  decided,  in  their 
mass-meeting,  to  make  you  an  offer  to  go  to 
work  in  your  middle  vein,  at  the  same  prices 
paid  in  Streator,  where  about  fifty  could  be 
employed,  and  sent  you  a  committee  with  the 
proposition." 

"  We  don't  recognize  committees,"  was  the 
reply. 

Because  the  men  had  come  in  a  committee, 
this  gentleman  was  willing  to  make  the  statement 
that  "  the  men  "  had  never  tried  to  get  work. 

To  any  one  of  the  general  public  too  little 
familiar  with  the  facts  to  detect  the  lurking  lie, 
this  assertion  would  have  conveyed  the  impres- 
sion it  was  made  to  convey,  that  the  company 
was  anxious  to  open  the  mines,  and  that  the 
men  didn't  want  work,  and  would  rather  live 
on  charity. 


1 62  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

The  public  has  been  misled  by  your  agents 
about  the  facts  of  the  business,  as  well  as  about 
the  doings  of  the  workingmen.      In  their  vari- 
ous   communications    to   the    public   the    coal 
company  have  dwelt,  as   the  main  line  of  de- 
fense,  and   with   great   effect,   on   the   compe- 
tition  of  the  coal  of  southern  Illinois.      They 
have  succeeded   thereby  in  creating  the  wide- 
spread belief  that  this  cheaper  southern   coal 
was  driving  the  dearer  coal  of  Spring  Valley, 
and  the   rest   of  northern   Illinois,  out    of  the 
market.       Speaking  of  this,    the   president  of 
the  company  says:   "The  operators  in  north- 
ern Illinois  cannot  pay  from  30  to  50  per  cent, 
more  for  mining  their  coal  and  compete  in  the 
markets  with    coal  costing   from  30  to    50   per 
cent,   less  for   mining."     Again,  he  says:   ''  If 
we  could  mine  and  produce  our  coal  at  Spring 
Valley  at   the   same   cost  that  it  is  mined  and 
produced   for   in    southern    Illinois   we   would 
then  be  on  an  equal  footing  in  these  markets," 

etc. 

By  these,  and  many  other  reiterations  of 
the  same  point,  the  idea  was  thoroughly  dis- 
seminated among  the  public  to  the  disadvan- 
tage of  the  miners,  that  they  persisted  in  de- 
manding wages  at  which  the  northern  Illinois 
mines  were   being  driven    out  of  business   by 


THE    CAMPAIGN   OF    SLANDER.  1 63 

the  southern  Illinois  mines.  This  was  done  so 
successfully  that  the  first  point  made  against 
the  writer  whenever  I  began  a  discussion  with 
a  business  acquaintance,  of  the  case  of  the 
Spring  Valley  miners,  was  sure  to  be:  "  It  is 
impossible  for  these  mines,  with  their  thin 
veins,  to  compete  with  the  thick  veins  of  the 
southern  mines.  If  the  miners  won't  take  less 
the  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company  says  it  will 
have  to  shut  its  mines  for  good." 

Fortunately,  or  unfortunately,  according  to 
the  point  of  view,  the  facts  of  this  bugbear 
competition  of  southern  with  northern  Illinois 
coal  are  accessible  to  all.  They  disclose  that 
it  is  a  phantom,  a  shadow  good  enough  to  fight 
the  claims  of  the  working  people  with,  but  not 
good  enough  to  stand  the  light  of  investiga- 
tion. This  would  be  more  than  surprising  if 
we  had  not  had  in  this  whole  degrading  busi- 
ness so  many  other  illustrations  of  the  same 
mongering  of  facts.  In  truth,  the  trade 
morality  of  our  day  thinks  it  all  right  for  one 
bargainer  to  mislead  another  as  far  as  he  can. 

Let  the  buyer  beware."  Special  Commis- 
sioners Gould  and  Wines  made  a  thorough 
inquiry  into  the  excuse  thus  proffered  for  the 
terrible  course  taken  at  Spring  Valley,  and  re- 
port that  there  is  nothing  in  it.      Nothing    in 


i 


164  A    STRIKE    OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

it  !  The  whole  fabric  of  the  company's  justifi- 
cation of  its  action  in  inaugurating  the  lock- 
out, in  the  application  of  the  hunger-screw  to 
o-et  lower  wages,  rests  on  the  allegation  that 
they  were  made  necessary  by  this  southern 
competition.  The  president  of  the  Spring 
Valley  Company  said,  in  his  letter  to  Governor 
Fifer,  September  25th,  justifying  the  offer  of 
35  cents  a  ton  :  "  We  have  made  all  the  con- 
cessions that  we  can  possibly  make  to  our  men 
and  be  able  to  maintain  ourselves  in  a  com- 
petitive market." 

But  the  special  commissioners  of  the  State 
of  Illinois  report,  officially,  that  there  is  noth- 
incr  in  it.  This  ground  of  defense  occupies  the 
principal  place  in  all  the  company's  state- 
ments. The  facts  will  be  found  given  in  full 
on  pages  13  and  14  of  Messrs.  Gould  and 
Wines'    report.     Their    conclusions    are     thus 

stated: 

"  In  1883  the  first  mining  district  and  Bu- 
reau County,*  taken  together,  reported  25.6 
per  cent,  of  the  total  output  of  the  State, 
and  27  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  all  the  coal 
produced;  while  in  1888  they  reported  30  per 
cent,  of  the  total  output  of  the  State,  and 
36.4  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  all  the  coal  pro- 

*  Spring  Valley  is  in  Bureau  County. 


THE    CAMPAIGN    OF   SLANDER.  165 

duced.  They  had  gained  on  their  rivals, 
within  the  State,  in  five  years,  4.4  per  cent,  in 
tonnage,  and  9.4  per  cent,  in  price,  instead  of 
losing  ground,  as  they  claim  that  they  have 
been  doing  for  a  long  series   of  years  past."* 

The  commissioners  conclude:  "  We  dismiss 
from  further  consideration  by  us  the  claim 
that  the  diminution  of  profits  in  mining  in  the 
first  and  second  districts  is  due  to  the  increased 
production  of  coal  in  southern  Illinois.  It 
appears  to  us  to  be  not  only  not  proved,  but 
disproved  by  such  statistics  as  are  at  our  com- 
mand. " 

A  deep  condemnation  is  pronounced  upon 
you  in  these  colorless  official  words. 

Your  lock-out  was  unnecessary. 

Your  nicely  built  defense,  with  facts  and 
figures  so  skillfully  dovetailed,  is  a  sham. 

What  aspect  does  this  put  upon  your  treat- 
ment of  these  people? 

The  contradictions  and  absurdities  in  the 
statements  put  out  by  these  great  business 
geniuses,  speak  for  themselves.      For  instance: 

Your  spokesman  figured  out  in  his  letter  of 
August  24th,  that,  if  the  miners' demand  of  85 
cents  a  ton  were  conceded,  the  company  would 


*  On  account  of  the  lock-out  no  comparison  can  be  made  with   the  fig- 
ures of  1889. 


1 66  A   STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

lose  1 7  y2  cents  a  ton.  It  was  then  offering  3  5 , 
nominally  75,  cents  a  ton  for  mining.  It  has 
since  settled  at  823^  cents,  2  i^  cents  less  than 
the  ficrure  on  which  the  above  calculation  of  loss 
was  estimated.  If  these  figures  were  correct,  it 
is  now  losing  about  15  cents  a  ton.  It  was  to 
get  the  opportunity  of  losing  1 5  cents  a  ton  that 
the  manager  of  the  company  based  the  offer  of 
his  superintendent  to  take  the  mines  and  pay 
him  a  bonus  of  i  5  cents  a  ton.  It  was  for  the 
privilege  of  losing  15  cents  a  ton  that  he  has 
been  printing  and  scattering  broadcast  pam- 
phlets, "  To  Miners,"  urging  them  to  go  to 
Spring  Valley,  has  been  appealing  almost  with 
frenzy  to  the  public  for  their  support  through 
every  channel  possible,  has  more  than  doubled 
his  first  offer  to  the  men.  It  is  by  doing  busi- 
ness on  this  principle  of  losing  15  cents  a  ton, 
no  doubt,  that  the  enormous  fortunes  repre- 
sented in  the  Spring  Valley  enterprise  have 
been  created. 

Is  it  not  strange  that,  of  such  transparent 
iup-glins  as  this  with  common  sense  and  busi- 
ness  sense,  public  opinion  should  be  made? 

These  incidents  give  only  a  glimpse  into  the 
methods  of  this  campaign  of  slander  and  siege, 
of  moral  starvation. 

Where  will  public  indignation  find  the  words 


THE    CAMPAIGN    OF    SLANDER.  1 6/ 

to  express  itself  when  it  realizes  that  the  pur- 
pose of  these  misrepresentations  was  to  cut  off 
the  sympathy  of  the  world  from  these  poor  and 
betrayed  men,  so  that,  unrelieved,  they  might 
be  forced  by  your  partners,  hunger  and  cold, 
to  sell  you  their  lives  below  cost? 


CHAPTER  XI. 

FEED    MY    LAMBS. 

The  men  who  went  to  work,  in  November, 
after  the  surrender,  got  no  pay  from  the  com- 
pany until  the  middle  of  December.  They  got 
credit  at  the  stores,  but  there  were  many  fami- 
lies whose  heads  were  away,  many  who  could 
not  get  work,  because  the  mines  are  not  yet 
cleared  up,  and  therefore  could  not  get  credit. 
The  distress  of  the  summer,  therefore,  con- 
tinued into  midwinter.  This  was  anticipated 
by  Adjutant-General  Vance  in  his  report 
given  above,  in  which  he  says  that  the  neces- 
sity for  relief  would  probably  exist  for  several 
weeks  after  the  mines  have  resumed  opera- 
tions. 

November  27th  one  of  the  leading  men  among 
the  miners  wrote  in  a  private  letter:  "  A  great 
many  of  our  men  have  not  started  to  work  yet, 
as  only  a  limited  number  can  possibly  work  at 
the    repairing.  *  *  *  There   are 

some  who  have  a  hard  time  to  keep  body  and 

soul    together.      We   have    no   money    in    the 

(168) 


FEED    MV    LAMBS.  169 

treasury.     The  men  are  ii-ya  poor   condition, 
and  somewhat  discouraged." 

An  inquiry  was  consequently  sent  to  a  resi- 
dent of  Spring  Valley,  asking  what  relief  was 
still  needed,  and  to  whom  it  should  be  sent. 
His  reply  puts  the  last  touch  to  this  picture  of 
man's  inhumanity  to  man.  With  other  infor- 
mation, it  was  the  basis  of  the  following  dis- 
patch, furnished  by  the  write  rand  sent  out  by  the 
Associated  Press  on  Thanksgiving  Day,  1889: 

Chicago,  November  28. — The  Spring  Valley  Coal  Com- 
pany, to  prepare  people  to  celebrate  Ihanksgiving, have  refused 
employment  upon  re-opening  the  mines  to  miners  who,  during 
the  lock-out  just  ended,  took  a  leading  part  in  the  distribution 
of  food,  clothing  and  medicine  to  the  sick  and  starving.  This 
relief  forced  the  company  to  make  terms  twice  as  good  as  those 
offered,  although  it  did  not  save  the  men  from  severe  reduction. 
The  company  has  also  declined  to  re-employ  officers  of  labor 
unions,  and  has  compelled  all  miners  to  abandon  unions.  As 
there  is  no  other  industry  in  Spring  Valley  except  that  of  this 
coal  company,  this  refusal  to  employ  banishes  the  members  of 
the  relief  committee  and  leaders  of  the  union  from  Spring  Val- 
ley. They  are  penniless,  having  had  no  work  for  seven  months, 
like  all  the  working  people  here. 

Some  of  these  banished  men  have  families  of  seven  and  eight 
children.  This  action  of  the  company  has  so  intimidated  the - 
other  miners  that  they  decline  receiving  contributions  for  tho.se 
still  in  want.  They  are  afraid  that  if  they  are  found  distribut- 
ing relief  they  will  be  also  told  to  leave.  Distress  will  last  at 
least  until  midu  inter,  as  the  mines  are  ready  for  only  a  few 
men,  and  the  heads  of  many  families  are  away  looking  for  work. 
November  earnings  will  be  small,  and  not  paid  until  the  middle 
of  December.     Relief  will  be  needed,  but  the  union  has  been 


I/O  A   STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

broken    up,  and  the  miners  do  not   dare  form  another  relief 
committee. 

Here  was  a  speedy  illustration  of  what  the 
surrender  of  the  union  meant  to  the  men  when 
worn  out  by  the  ceaselessly  applied  torture  of 
famine,  they  went  back  to  work  as  "  indi- 
viduals." When  Mr.  Bourke,  who  had  been 
president  of  the  union,  applied  for  work  along 
with  the  rest  who  had  stampeded,  he  was  told 
that  there  was  no  place  for  him.  When  Mr. 
McNulty,  who  had  been  secretary,  made  a 
similar  application,  he  got  a  similar  answer. 
Henry  Hill,  too,  has  had  to  go.  He  was 
never  an  officer  of  the  union,  never  took  any 
lead  in  any  dispute  with  the  company.  He 
has  been  banished  because,  when  the  women 
and  children  and  the  men  who  could  not  get 
work  began  to  starve,  he  gave  himself  to  the 
duty  of  relief.  He  was  made  chairman  of  the 
relief  committee.  He  worked  day  and  night 
dividing  the  provisions  that  were  given,  scour- 
ing the  country  for  more,  hunting  out  the 
worst  cases  of  distress.  He  fed  your  hungry, 
he  bound  up  your  wounded,  he  visited  your 
sick.  As  he  did  it  to  these;  he  did  it  unto  Him 
whom  you  call  Lord!  Lord!  and,  for  doing  it, 
you  have  said  to  him,  "  Move  on.  There  is  no 
place  for  you  in  Spring  Valley  with  your  seven 


FEED    MY    LAMBS.  Ijl 

children  and  your  wife.  Take  to  the  road. 
You  tried  to  save  the  lives  we  were  trying  to 
cheapen.  "  C.  W. ,  too,  whose  story  I  have  told 
above,  when  he  applied  for  work,  after  the  sur- 
render, got  the  word  which  meant,  "  Move  on. 
You  shall  not  live  in  Spring  Valley  if  we  can  help 
it."  He  was  never  an  officer  of  the  union, 
never  represented  the  men  in  any  of  their  dif- 
ferences with  the  company,  has  always  worked 
faithfully  according  to  his  bargain.  His  only 
offense  was  that  he  had  been  a  member  of  the 
relief  committee,  and  that  he  had  fed  "  Him 
who  was  a  hungered,"  who,  as  "  Chinese 
Gordon  "  says,  lives  to-day  in  the  persons  of 
the  poor  and  suffering. 

These  men  and  the  others  refused  work 
were  sober,  industrious,  good.  men.  The 
"  sacred  right  to  work,"  of  which  we  hear  so 
much,  was  denied  them,  simply  because  they 
had  been  chosen  by  their  associates  to  act  for 
them  in  the  union  or  the  relief  work,  and  had 
done  it  to  the  best  of  their  ability.  The  re- 
fusal of  work  is,  so  far  as  the  coal  company 
had  control,  the  refusal  of  the  privilege  of 
living  at  Spring  Valley,  since  there  is  no  other 
industry  there,  as  the  advertisements  stated, 
except  coal  mining,  and  the  coal  is  all  owned 
by  you    of  the  coal  company.      Some  of  the 


172  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

blacklisted  men  got  public  work  to  do  for  the 
city  ;  the  others  have  gone.  The  men  who 
have  acted,  as  you  would  say  of  your  own  rep- 
resentatives, as  "  attorneys,"  or  "  directors," 
or  "  purchasing  agents,"  or  "  brokers,"  or 
what  not,  for  their  fellows,  as  yours  worked 
for  you  in  this  very  matter,  have  been  for  that 
offense  banished  with  their  families.  To  get 
lower  and  lower  wages,  and  more  and  more 
workout  of  your  men,  it  is  indispensable  that 
they  should  not  be  allowed  to  unite,  that  they 
should  be  starved,  that,  when  starved,  they 
should  be  cut  off  from  outside  relief,  and  that 
any  natural  leaders  who  show  themselves 
should  be  weeded  out.  So  these  men  must 
move  on,  like  Poor  Joe,  although  they  had  no 
money  to  move  with,  no  place  to  go  to,  and 
winter  was  on  them.  If  they  had  bought  lots, 
not  fully  paid  for,  they  must  forfeit  land  and 
money.  Christian  warfare  stops  murdering  its 
enemies  when  they  pull  down  their  flag  ;  but 
business  and  the  Apaches  take  a  surrender 
only  to  facilitate  extermination. 

The  men  had   anticipated  the   possibility  of 
such   tactics,    and    had    endeavored   to   guard 
against  them.      Before  surrendering,  knowing 
it  to   be   the   practice   of  employers  to   black- 
list the  leaders   of    the  men    during  strike   or 


FEED    MY    LAMBS.  1/3 

lock-out,  the  miners  put  to  the  president 
of  the  company,  the  direct  question,  whether, 
if  the  men  went  back  to  work,  he  would 
aeree  that  the  leaders  should  also  be  em- 
ployed.  They  received  in  reply  the  fol- 
lowing explicit  assurance  over  his  own  signa- 
ture: "  Regarding  those  men  who  maybe  con- 
sidered the  leaders,  and  who  are  so  largely 
responsible  for  our  difficulties,  but  who  have 
not  been  parties  to  any  overt  acts  toward  the 
company,  we  will  make  no  exceptions  to  their 
returning  to  work  and  remaining  in  the  employ 
of  the  company,  so  long  as  they  in  good  faith 
live  up  to  what  they  agree  to  do.  We  have 
arranged  to  send  men  to  Spring  Valley,  and 
we  are  meeting  with  more  success  than  we  ex- 
pected." 

Badly  whipped  as  they  were,  the  men  were 
too  honorable  to  go  back  to  work,  and  leave 
their  leaders  to  be  sacrificed.  They  would 
have  continued  the  hopeless  fight  still  longer, 
rather  than  submit  to  that.  But  this  declara- 
tion from  the  president  of  the  company  was 
explicit  and  satisfactory.  It  came  from  a  foe, 
but  still  from  a  foe  they  supposed  to  be  an 
honorable  one. 

Immediately  upon  receiving  this  assurance, 
that  their  leaders  would  not  be  discriminated 


1/4  A    STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

against,  the  men  voted  to  go  back  to  work. 
Then  they  found  that  the  pledge  had  been 
given  only  to  lure  them  to  surrender.  In  its 
public  card  in  the  following  pages,  it  will  be 
seen,  the  company  does  not  venture  to  make 
any  pretense  that  the  banished  men  had  been 
guilty  of  any  offense.  If  a  tale  of  such  duplicity 
were  put  into  a  novel  on  the  labor  question, 
all  the  critics  would  cry  out  against  such 
inartistic,  because  impossible,  fiction. 

Neither  State  nor  nation  has  the  power  by 
law  to  banish,  but  America's  millionaires  claim 
and  exercise  it,  though  it  is  a  function  which 
the  government  itself  would  not  dare  to  assert. 

The  feeling  with  which  this  news  was  re- 
ceived by  the  country  was  expressed  with  elo- 
quent indignation  by  the  New  York  Hcj'ald 
in  the  following  editorial,  in  its  issue  of  Novem- 
ber 29th: 

A    DISGRACE   TO    CI VILIZATIOX. 

It  is  almost  incredible  that  the  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company 
should  upon  reopening  its  mines  refuse  employment  to  the 
miners  who  took  food,  clothing  and  medicine  to  sick  and  hungry 
folks  during  the  terrible  lock-out,  and  yet  such  is  the  news  tele- 
graphed from  Chicago  yesterday. 

A  more  brutal  and  damnable  action  can  hardly  be  conceived 
in  a  civilized  community.  It  has  cowed  the  relief  committees, 
and  supplies  have  ceased.  Disease  and  starvation  may  stalk 
unchecked  among  the  helpless  women  and  children. 

When  spring  comes  the  sleek  directors  of  this  wealthy  cor- 
poration can  point  to  the  graves  of  those  who  perish  this  winter, 


FEED    MY    LAMBS.  175 

and  say  to  their  slaves:  "  If  you  would  save  your  dear  ones 
from  this  fate,  take  the  wages  we  offer  you  without  murmur- 
ing." Then  the  directors  may  go  back  to  their  homes  and 
thank  God  that  they  live  in  a  land  of  liberty  and  charity. 

The  president  of  the  company  repHed  to  the 
statements  made  in  the  Associated  Press  dis- 
patch by  issuing  a  card,  which,  on  account  of 
its  gross  and  angry  personaUties,  the  Associated 
Press  declined  to  circulate.  Omitting  the 
"  abuse  of  the  plaintiff's  attorney,"  the  card 
said: 

There  has  been  no  order  given  to  not  employ  men  at  Spring 
Valley  who  took  "  a  leading  part  in  the  distribution  of  food  during 
the  strike,"  as  is  alleged,  nor  as  to  any  miner  who  was  engaged 
in  the  strike.  When  the  men  accepted  the  company's  terms, 
which  were  more  liberal  as  to  the  price  of  mining  than  the 
price  paid  at  other  mines  in  the  State,  more  men  signed  con- 
tracts the  first  day  than  we  could  possibly  put  to  work,  and 
miners  have  been  leaving  other  mines  in  the  State  and  flocking 
to  Spring  Valley  in  such  numbers  since  work  was  resumed  that 
it  has  been  impossible  for  the  company  to  find  work  for  all  of 
them. 

Owing  to  the  long  strike  our  mines  were  not  in  condition  to 
work  at  their  full  capacity  when  work  was  resumed.  We  are 
doing  all  we  can,  night  and  day,  to  get  them  in  order,  which  we 
hope  to  do  by  the  middle  of  December,  when  we  will  be  in 
shape  to  double,  if  not  treble,  the  number  of  men  we  are  now 
working.  No  better  refutation  of  the  infamous  .slanders  and 
misrepresentations  heaped  upon  the  Spring  Valley  Coal  Com- 
pany and  its  officers  can  be  given  than  the  fact  that  not  only 
have  all  of  our  old  men  signed  contracts,  but  that  miners  are 
coming  to  Spring  Valley  from  all  over  the  State,  seeking  work 
without  our  solicitation.  Men  generally  go  where  they  are 
best  paid,  and  where  they  can  earn  the  most  money. 


176  A    STRIKE    OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

In  reply  to  the  Herald,  the  president  of  the 
company  wrote  a  card,  in  the  course  of  which 
he  said: 

I  do  not  ask  or  expect  the  public  or  press  of  the  country 
to  accept  any  statements  made  by  my  company  in  refutation  of 
the  misrepresentation  and  falsehoods  that  a  partisan  press  has 
subjected  the  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company  and  its  officers  to 
during  the  past  six  months,  but  I  do  claim  that  official  state- 
ments and  records  made  by  the  authorities  of  the  State  of  Illi- 
nois ought  to  be  accepted  by  a  fair  and  impartial  press  as  a 
refutation  of  these  slanders.  Governor  Fifer,  of  Illinois,  a 
republican,  through  his  adjutant-general  and  the  State  Board  of 
Charities,  during  the  past  summer,  and  when  the  strike  of  the 
miners  had  been  on  from  four  to  six  months,  made  a  thorough 
investigation  of  the  condition  of  affairs  at  Spring  Valley,  and 
the  official  report  of  these  gentlemen  is  the  best  answer  that  I 
can  give  to  the  infamous  slanders  and  misrepresentations  which 
have  been  published  in  the  press  of  the  country. 

Why  there  should  be  any  suffering  or  destitution  at  Spring 
Valley  on  Thanksgiving,  when  a  miner  can  earn  from  $3  to  $5 
per  day  for  the  support  of  himself  and  his  family,  I  am  unable 
to  account  for. 

The  following  extract  accompanied  the  letter, 
though,  as  the  reader  will  see,  it  has  nothing 
whatever  to  do  with  the  subject  of  the  Herald's 
editorial. 

My  inquiries  were  more  particularly  made  with  a  view  to 
ascertain  the  conditions  as  to  the  destitution,  starvation,  suffer- 
ing, sickness  and  general  sanitary  condition.  I  requested  the 
mayor  to  point  out  the  most  prominent  cases  of  destitution  or 
to  have  the  supervisor  of  the  township,  who  is  ex-ofiicio  over- 
seer of  the  poor,  do  so,  as  I  would  prefer  to  base  my  representa- 
tion of  the  situation  to  you  upon  personal  observation.     The 


FEED    MV    LAMBS.  177 

citizens  with  whom  I  conversed  were  repres;ntatives  of  the  pop- 
ulation of  Spring  Valley,  and  included  physicians,  druggists, 
police,  butchers,  mechanics,  miners,  merchants,  professional 
men  and  business  men  generally. 

The  general  sentiment  expressed  by  these  persons  was  that 
the  memorial  presented  to  you  and  signed  by  many  of  them 
was  a  misrepresentation  as  to  the  condition  in  reference  to 
destitution,  starvation,  suffering  and  sickness;  that  without  any 
consultation  or  concert  of  action  on  their  ]iart,  the  memorial 
was  prepared  and  submitted  to  them  for  signature.  Some  per- 
sons said  they  were  opposed  to  the  memorial  as  a  whole;  that 
no  such  condition  existed  as  was  represented  ;  that  there  was  no 
starvation,  destitution  or  sickness  worthy  of  mention,  but  that 
they  had  signed  the  memorial  because,  if  they  refused  to  do  so, 
they  would  be  b  lycotted  in  business.  ()thers  seemed  to  take  a 
different  view.  While  they  freely  admitted  the  exaggeration  in 
reference  to  starvation  anddestitution^yet  they  urged  that  there 
had  been  a  necessity  for  charitable  work,  and  that  this  necessity 
would  probably  exist  for  several  weeks  after  the  miners  had 
resumed  operations. — Extract  from  Jaiiics  IT.   J'aiiie''s  Report. 

Concerning  the  card  in  the  New  York  Times, 
the  Philadelphia  Press  said: 

The  facts  in  this  case  are  clear.  The  president  of  the  coal 
company  and  his  associates  made  money  in  the  Spring  Valley 
mines  by  methods  which  led  to  a  strike  by  starving  men. 
These  methods  were  exposed  by  that  well-known  Episcopal 
clergyman,  Father  Huntington,  and  by  others.  The  exposure 
aroused  public  sympathy  and  led  to  public  aid,  which  rendered 
the  strike  successful.  There  is  even  reason  to  believe  that  it 
will  advance  wages  throughout  the  Illinois  mines.  Replying  to 
published  letters  asserting  that  the  company  was  refusing  work 
to  miners  engaged  in  relief  distribution,  to  officers  in  the  union 
and  to  all  who  would  not  leave  the  union,  the  president  of 
the  company  denies  that  "  orders  "  to  this  effect  were  issued, 
and  asserts  that  "  all  our  old  men  have  signed  contracts."     We 

12 


178  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 


sincerely  hope  this  is  true.  We  would  like  to  believe  that  even 
he  has  seen  the  error  of  his  ways.  We  hope  he  has.  At  the 
same  time,  a  more  direct  denial  would  have  been  better  adapted 
to  convince,  and  he  could  clinch  it  by  a  brief  statement  from 
the  union  or  its  officers. 

To  the  cards  in  the  Times  and  Herald,  the 
following"  rejoinder  was  made.  It  was  circu- 
lated by  the  Associated  Press,  and,  as  the 
comments  of  a  large  number  of  papers  showed, 
was  universally  accepted  as  the  indisputable 
truth  of  the  matter  : 

The  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company  denies  the  truth  of  the 
statement  sent  out  by  the  Associated  Press,  that  the  coal  com- 
pany refused  employment,  upon  reopening  the  mines,  to  the 
miners  who  took  a  leading  part  in  the  distribution  of  food, 
clothing  and  medicine  to  the  sick  and  starving,  and  to  the  offi- 
cers of  the  union  during  die  lock-out,  and  has  also  compelled 
the  miners  to  give  up  their  union.  The  statement  was  true; 
the  denial  is  untrue.  It  is  vital  the  fact  should  be  understood, 
not  tu  make  or  unmake  any  one's  reputation  for  veracity,  but 
that  the  public  may  know  what  means  are  being  employed  to 
terrorize  and  impoverish  the  working  people. 

In  a  letter  written  the  day  before  Thanksgiving  a  prominent 
member  of  the  Spring  Valley  Relief  Committee  said  : 

"  The  company  are  putting  the  men  to  work  as  fast  as  they 
can — that  is,  the  men  they  want  to  give  work  to.  Seven  of  us 
have  been  refused  work,  and  five  of  those  seven  for  certain  will 
get  no  work  in  Spring  Valley.  Their  names  are  James  O'Hare, 
Andrew  Bcurke,  Thomas  McNulty,  Chris  Weimer  and  Henry 
Hill.  They  will  have  to  go  and' seek  work  elsewhere,  which  is 
pretty  'hard  law'  in  the  winter,  after  seven  months"  idle  time. 
As  far  as  sending  relief  here  now  is  concerned,  none  of  the 
miners  would  take  anything  to  distribute  for  fear  they  would  be 
dealt  with  like  these  five,  and  be  made  victims  and  have  to  leave 


FEED    MY    LAMBS.  1/9 

the  place.  If  you  could  do  anything  to  find  work  for  me  I 
would  go  to  Chicago." 

Confirmation  of  these  statements  is  right  at  hand  from  the 
other  side.  In  its  issue  of  Thanksgiving  Day  the  Spring  Valley 
Gazette,  the  organ  of  the  business  men,  not  the  workingmen, 
said  : 

"  At  the  miners'  meeting  Monday  evening  the  men  donated 
$li8  to  help  out  of  town  a  few  men  who  have  not  yet  got  work 
from  the  coal  company.  Six  men  are  on  the  list — namely:  A. 
D.  Bourke,  Harry  Hill,  Thomas  McNulty,  Clement  Lalliment, 
Ed.  Travis,  and  Chris  Weimer.  The  $il8  was  the  entire  bal- 
ance of  the  money  remaining  in  the  hands  of  the  relief  com- 
mittee." 

Of  these  men  who  are  "  on  the  list,"  Bourke  was  the  president 
and  McNulty  the  secretary  of  the  Miners'  Union  up  to  the  end 
of  the  lock-out,  Hill  was  the  chairman  of  the  Rehef  Committee, 
and  the  others  active  members. 

A  later  letter  states  that  four  of  the  men,  Bourke,  Hill,  Lal- 
liment, and  McNulty,  the  leaders  of  the  union  and  the  Relief 
Committee,  have  gone  into  their  involuntary  exile,  and  by  the 
same  mail  comes  the  Spring  Valley  Gazette  stating  that  Bourke 
has  gone  as  far  away  as  Missouri.  These  men  have  to  leave 
their  wives  and  children  behind  them. 

As  to  the  union  the  miners,  besides  submitting  to  the  banish- 
ment of  their  old  leaders,  are  compelled  to  sign  contracts  by 
which  they  bind  themselves,  individually,  not  to  take  part  in 
any  combination  to  obtain  better  wages,  and  agree  to  leave  the 
settlement  of  all  grievances  to  the  sole  judgment  and  decision 
of  the  company.  The  company  refuses  the  union  any  recog- 
nition in  matters  between  itself  and  the  men. 

The  value  of  the  company's  denial  may  be  sufficiently  judged 
from  the  fact  that  the  only  quotation  it  makes  from  the  Associ- 
ated Press  dispatch  is  garbled  by  changing  the  word  lock-out  to 
strike.  The  trouble  at  Spring  Valley  was  officially  declared  to 
be  not  a  strike  but  a  lock-out  by  the  special  commissioners  em- 
ployed by  the  governor  of  Illinois  to  investigate  it.  The 
anxiety  of  the  company  to   mislead   the  pidilic  on  this  point  is 


l80  A    STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

evidence  tliat  they  cannot  afford  to  stand  by  their  action  in  ap- 
plying the  torture  of  famine  for  seven  months  to  5,000  people 
in  order  to  buy  their  labor  "  below  cost." 

The  New  York  Sun  of  December  i6,  1889, 
in  printing  this  .statement,  said,  editorially: 
"It  is  a  conclusive  reply." 

The  Philadelphia  Press  said:  "  Denials 
count  for  little  in  the  face  of  these  facts,  and,  if 
the  president  of  the  coal  company  wants  any 
one  to  believe  him,  he  must  meet  these  pains- 
taking and  accurate  statements  not  with  abuse, 
but  with  proof  that  his  company  has  given 
work  to  the  men  whose  only  crime  was  dis- 
tributing charity  to  their  mates." 

And  the  Pittsburg  Dispatch  declared  that 
this  recapitulation  of  the  facts  made  "fine 
mince-meat"  of  the  denial  by  the  company. 

No  further  denial  was  attempted.  Any 
one  who  has  made  himself  familiar  with  the 
facts  of  this  case,  and  has  a  taste  for  the  work, 
can  pick  out  dozens  of  contradictions  and 
obvious  misstatements  in  the  statements  made 
by  the  company.  But  it  is  a  profitless  task  to 
spend  time  hunting  for  dropped  stitches  in  a 
web,  the  warp  and  woof  of  which  are  spun 
altogether  out  of  deceit  and  wrong-doing. 
But  it  is  worth  while,  in  passing,  to  point  out  a 
characteristic  illustration  of  the   reckless  will- 


FEED   MY   LAMBS.  l8l 

ingness  of  these  dtnployers  to  make  a  point 
regardless  of  the  facts.  In  its  card  of  No- 
vember  29th,  the  company  stated  that  it  "  has 
been  impossible  for  the  company  to  rind  work 
for  all  of  them  "  —  the  miners  who  had  applied 
for  employment.  But  the  next  day,  in  the 
card  of  November  30th,  the  spokesman  of 
the  company  says: 

"  Why  there  should  be  any  suffering  or  des- 
titution at  Spring  Valley  on  Thanksgiving, 
when  a  miner  can  earn  from  $3  to  $5  a  day 
for  the  support  of  himself  and  his  family,  I  am 
unable  to  account  for." 

Friday  the  needs  of  selt-defense  created  a 
demand  for  some  such  statement  as  that  the 
company  had  not  refused  employment,  but 
had  been  unable  to  give  it  to  all.  That  state- 
ment was  supplied  accordingly.  Saturday 
created  a  demand  for  the  statement  that  the 
company  had  furnished  all  with  employment 
yielding  $3  to  $5  a  day,  and  that  statement 
was  supplied  forthwith. 

Such  are  the  advantages  of  life- long  practice 
of  the  principles  of  supply  and  demand. 

But  the  company,  in  their  first  denial,  make 
one  assertion,  upon  which  it  will  be  profitable 
to  pause.      Your  spokesman  says: 

"  No  better  refutation  of  the  infamous  slan- 


1 82  A   STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

ders  and  misrepresentations  heaped  upon  the 
Spring  Valley  Coal  Company  and  its  officers 
can  be  given  than  that  not  only  have  all  of  our 
old  men  signed  contracts,  but  that  miners 
are  coming  to  Spring  Valley  from  all  over 
the  State  seeking  work  without  our  solicita- 

tion. 

The  writer  of  the  card  conceived,  as  he  wrote 
that,  to  say  "  All  of  our  old  men  have  signed 
contracts"  would  sound  well,  and  he  said  it, 
utterly  untrue  as  it  was,  as  the  facts  we  have 
given  show.  But  that  is  a  mere  aside,  which 
can  be  dismissed  as  an  extemporaneous  caper 
in  a  life-long  waltz  with  fancy.  But  the  clos- 
ing declaration  that  the  miners  who  had  flocked 
into  Spring  Valley,  upon  the  resumption  of 
work,  had  come  there  "  without  solicitation," 
conceals  a  maneuver  so  deliberate,  so  char- 
acteristic of  this  whole  business,  and  so  mis- 
chievous, that  it  must  not  be  passed  by. 

In  the  Spring  Valley  Gazette  of  November 
14,  1889,  when  the  company  was  in  the  thick 
of  the  negotiations  with  its  locked-out  men  for 
their  return  to  work,  this  paragraph  was 
printed: 

"  '  A  Word  to  Miners  '  is  the  title  of  a  neat 
eight-page  pamphlet  received  Monday  from 
Erie,  Pa.      It  is  descriptive  of  the  city  of  Spring 


FEED    MY    LAMBS.  1 83 

Valley,  and   the    mines  to  which   it   refers,   in 
glowing  terms. " 

Erie,  Pa.,  is  the  home  of  the  president  and 
spokesman  of  the  coal  company.  The  pam- 
phlet is  herewith  given  in  full.  It  is  an  impor- 
tant document. 


A    WORD 


TO 


COAL    MINERS. 


(185) 


A  WORD  TO  COAL   MINERS. 


There  is  no  State  in  the  Union  containing  a  larger  Bitumi- 
nous Coal  area  in  proportion  to  its  square  miles  than  the  State  of 
Illinois,  and  there  are  no  mines  in  the  United  States  where  a 
miner  can  have  steadier  work  at  more  remunerative  wages  than 
can  be  had  at  the  most  favorably  located  mines  in  northern  Illi- 
nois. There  is  a  reason  for  this  that  can  be  readily  understood 
by  any  intelligent  miner:  In  the  first  place  the  consumption  of 
Bituminous  Coal  for  steam  purposes,  by  railroads,  is  enormous 
in  that  section,  arising  from  the  fact  that  Illinois  contains  more 
miles  of  completed  railroad  to  its  population  than  any  other 
State  in  the  Union.  The  consumption  of  coal  by  these  rail- 
roads is  a  steady  one  throughout  the  year,  which  is  a  great  ad- 
vantage in  the  way  of  furnishing  steady  work  to  the  wage- 
worker.  The  northern  boundary  of  the  coal  fields  of  the  State, 
where  the  veins  of  coal  are  well  defined  and  regular  in  their 
formation,  terminates  at  about  the  41st  parallel  of  latitude,  at  a 
point  where  the  Illinois  River  reaches  its  most  northern  limit. 
The  great  States  of  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota,  as  well  as  por- 
tions of  Illinois  and  Michigan  north  of  the  42d  parallel,  are 
destitute  of  coal.  The  coal  from  these  northern  Illinois  fields 
also  finds  a  ready  market  in  the  States  and  Territories  west 
and  northwest  of  the  State  of  Illinois.  With  fully  seven  months 
of  winter  and  the  thermometer  often  falling  to  30  or  40  degrees 
below  zero  throughout  this  large  area,  with  its  large  and  active 
population,  practically  without  timber,  coal  is  not  only  a  ne- 
cessity in  the  great  cities,  but  also  to  the  farming  community. 
By  referring  to  the  geological  map  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  it 
will  be  seen  that  the  northern  limit  of  the  coal  fields  of  the  State, 
as  stated,  is  between  the  41st  and  42d  parallels  of  latitude,  and  it 

(187) 


1 88  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

will  also  be  observed  that  the  great  city  of  Chicago  is  within  the 
same  parallels.  Drawing  a  line  due  east  and  west  through  Chi- 
cago, and  north  and  south  through  Spring  Valley,  Illinois,  it  will 
be  found  that  the  Spring  Valley  mines  are  about  55  miles  south  of 
the  east  and  west  line,  and  about  100  miles  west  of  Chicago, 
midway  between  the  waters  of  the  great  lakes  and  the  Missis- 
sippi River,  and  that  the  great  lower  and  upper  veins  of  the 
Illinois  fields  do  not  extend  beyond  eight  miles  north  of  Spring 
Valley,  and  that  their  southern  terminus  is  in  the  37th  parallel 
of  latitude,  being  about  the  southern  boundary  of  the  State. 
This  great  middle  field,  as  officially  laid  down  by  tlie  geological 
map  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  cannot  be  better  described  than  by 
comparing  it  with  a  ham,  the  hock  starting  at  Spring  Valley, 
Illinois,  and  extending  south.  Within  this  formation,  only  the 
middle  or  upper  veins  are  found.  East  and  west  of  it,  to  a 
greater  or  lesser  extent,  the  great  underlying  veins  are  found, 
but  in  no  instance  are  the  upper  and  lower  veins  found  together 
in  their  complete  formation  outside  of  the  counties  of  La  Salle 
and  Bureau,  and  even  in  these  two  counties  not  exceeding  40,000 
to  50,000  acres.  Taking  Chicago  as  the  great  railroad  center 
of  the  West,  with  its  present  population  of  over  800,000  people, 
and  its  prospective  growth,  it  is  hard  to  even  approximate  what 
its  future  coal  consumption  will  be.  We  know  that  in  1SS8 
Chicago  consumed  over  three  millions  of  tons  of  Bituminous 
Coal,  and  it  is  within  bounds  to  say  that  the  railroad  consump- 
tion of  coal  by  the  roads  extending  north,  west,  and  southwest 
of  Chicago,  for  steam  purposes,  during  the  same  period,  was 
not  less  than  five  millions  of  tons.  If  you  want  to  sell  coal,  or 
in  fact  any  other  commodity,  you  must  find  a  market  for  it.  A 
large  market  means  a  large  consumption,  and  a  large  consump- 
tion means  steady  work  for  the  producers  of  the  commodity 
consumed,  as  well  as  fair  wages  for  the  wage-worker;  and,  if 
there  are  any  coal  fields  in  the  United  States  better  located  in 
this  respect  than  the  mines  at  Spring  Valley,  we  have  yet  to  find 
them. 

When  the  last  geological  map  of  the  State  of  Illinois  was 
issued  in   1875,  ^^^  ^^^^  was  not  then  known  that  the  Spring 


A    WORD    TO    COAL   MINERS.  1 89 

Valley  coal  fields  contained  laotli  the  middle  and  lower  veins  of 
coal  of  the  State ;  but  practical  working  has  fully  demonstrated 
this  fact.  There  are  three  well  defined  and  workable  veins  of 
coal  at  Spring  Valley,  the  first  vein  averaging  about  four  feet, 
and,  at  a  depth  of  150  feet,  has  not  been  worked.  The  second 
vein  is  from  five  to  seven  feet  thick,  at  a  depth  of  250  feet  below 
the  surface,  with  a  good  roof  and  comparatively  free  from  water, 
and  is  worked  on  the  room  and  pillar  system. 

A  good  miner  doing  an  honest  day's  work,  can  mine  from 
four  to  five  tons  per  day,  and  are  now  doing  it,  which  at  the 
present  price  paid  for  mining  in  that  vein,  namely,  72_J^  cents 
per  ton,  will  enable  him  to  earn  from  $3.25  to  $4  per  day,  and 
the  men  now  working  are  making  these  wages.  The  lower 
vein,  350  feet  below  the  surface,  is  mined  on  the  long  wall 
system.  The  coal  is  from  three  feet  eight  inches  to  four  feet 
thick.  Tlie  under-cutting  is  mainly  in  fire  clay,  although  in 
some  of  the  rooms  or  faces  in  two  of  the  shafts,  the  rock  is 
found  underlying  the  coal  to  a  limited  extent  in  some  of  the 
working  places.  The  roof  is  soapstone,  about  fourteen  feet 
thick,  and  about  twenty-four  inches  of  it  above  the  coal  has  to 
be  removed.  There  is  no  water  in  the  lower  vein;  it  is  practi- 
cally free  from  faults;  the  level  of  the  vein  will  not  vary  five 
feet  in  a  mile;  no  powder  is  required;  after  the  bearing  in  is 
done,  the  coal  falls  from  the  compression  of  the  roof.  Two 
men  are  allowed  a  face  of  forty-two  feet  to  work  in.  The  per- 
centage of  the  nut  and  slack  combined  is  only  thirteen  per  cent. 
The  screens  are  seven-eighths  of  an  inch,  and  the  price  paid  for 
mining  this  vein  is  82 }4  cents  per  ton  of  2,000  pounds  of 
screened  coal,  including  twenty-four  inches  of  brushing.  A 
good  miner  can  mine  four  tons  per  day,  and  in  many  cases  five 
tons. 

THE   TOWN    OF    SPRING   VALLEY. 

Less  than  four  years  ago,  where  the  town  of  Spring  Valley 
now  stands,  was  an  open  prairie  containing  a  kw  scattered  farm 
houses.  The  town  is  located  at  a  bend  on  the  northern  bluff 
of  the  Illinois    River,  fronr    90  to  100    feet  above    same,  in  the 


I90  A    STRIKE   OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

counties  of  Bureau  and  La  Salle,  on  a  high  rolling  prairie.  No 
more  beautiful,  fertile,  and  productive  agricultural  region  can 
be  found  on  this  continent  than  is  tributary  to  Spring  Valley. 
In  less  than  one  year  from  the  time  work  began  in  developing 
the  mines,  there  were  i,ooo  inhabitants  in  the  town,  and  in 
1888  the  population  was  estimated  to  be  between  4,500  and 
5, 000  people.  Fine  brick  blocks,  churches,  schools,  private 
residences,  hotels,  national  bank,  electric  lights,  ^\ater  supply, 
and  last  but  not  least,  snug  and  con>fortable  houses  for  the 
wage-worker,  were  constructed  as  if  by  magic.  Three  trunk 
lines  of  railroad  pass  through  Spring  Valley,  two  of  which 
have  been  extended  there  since  the  town  was  started,  namely, 
the  Chicago,  Burlington  &  Quincy,  and  the  Chicago  &  North- 
western, the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  being  the  third. 
No  town  of  its  size  and  certainly  no  coal  property  has  superior 
railroad  and  shipping  facilities  than  Spring  Valley,  and  in  addi- 
tion, by  the  Illinois  River,  it  possesses  an  uninterrupted  water 
•  communication  with  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  development  of 
the  Spring  Valley  Company's  property  and  the  output  of  coal 
reached  in  so  short  a  period,  has  been  phenomenal,  and  as  the 
main  product  is  produced  under  the  long  wall  system,  being 
the  largest  mines  worked  under  this  system  in  the  United 
States,  if  not  in  the  world,  to-day,  its  ability  to  meet  all  possi- 
ble demands  upon  it  in  the  future,  is  equal  to  that  of  any 
Bituminous  Coal  mines  in  the  country.  There  are  six  shafts 
or  mines  now  open,  and  when  fully  developed  and  in  operation, 
will  have  a  capacity  of  not  less  than  1,000  tons  of  coal  per  day 
each;  in  1888  ihe  output  per  day  reached  as  high  as  4,000  tons. 
To  the  steady,  sober  and  industrious  coal  miner,  no  better 
locality  can  be  found  to  locate  in  than  Spring  Valley,  and 
no  coal  field  where  steadier  work  and  the  highest  wages 
paid  for  mining  coal  can  be  relied  upon.  To  the  indus- 
trious miner  willing  to  do  a  fair  day's  work  for  a  fair  day's 
wage,  and  who  wi.shes  to  own  his  own  home,  and  live  "under 
his  own  vine  and  fig  tree,"  the  Spring  Valley  Company  are 
prepared  to  erect  such  homes  for  them,  to  be  paid  for  in 
monthly  installments,  on  long  time,  at  a  rate  of  interest  not 


A    WORD    TO    COAL    MINERS.  191 

exceeding  five  per  cent,  per  annum  on  the  actual  cost  of 
the  house  and  lot,  and  these  monthly  installments  will  be  so 
little  in  excess  of  the  rent  usually  paid  for  such  premises,  that 
at  the  end  of  a  few  years  the  wage-worker  will  have  his  own 
home.  The  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company  do  not  want  agitators, 
bummers  or  drunkards,  nor  will  they  employ  such  knowingly. 
Men  who  live  off  of  the  labor  of  others  and  whose  occupa- 
tion is  dependent  upon  their  ability  to  excite  .strikes  and  differ- 
ences between  the  wage- worker  and  the  operator,  are  the  worst 
enemies  of  labor.  Every  intelligent  employer  of  labor  should 
know  that  his  interests  can  be  best  promoted  by  paying  the 
highest  possible  wages  his  business  will  permit,  and  by  making 
those  who  work  for  him  feel  that  he  has  an  interest  in  their  pros- 
perity and  welfare,  and  that  he  is  ready  and  wilHng  at  all  times 
to  concede  to  the  individual  wage-worker  his  just  and  equitable 
rights. 

HOW   TO    GET   TO   SPRING   VALLEY. 

It  takes  two  or  three  hoiirs  to  reach  Spring  Valley  from  Chi- 
cago by  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island  &  Pacific  Railroad,  and  the 
fare  is  $3.  The  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company  can  now  give 
steady  work  to  additional  miners,  with  good  tenement  or  board- 
ing houses  to  live  in,  at  reasonable  prices.  Men  vA^o  are  ac- 
customed to  mining  anthracite  coal,  iron  ore,  or  other  minerals, 
can  soon  successfully  work  at  Spring  Valley. 

Those  desiring  further  information,  can  address: 


Genl.   Manager,  Spring  Valley,  111. 


Genl.  Agent,  Chicago,  111. 
Spring  Valley,  III.,  November  ist,  1889. 


192  A    STRIKE    OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

This  pamphlet  re-enforces  the  exhibition 
made  by  the  advertisements  and  pamphlets  de- 
scribed above  and  used  to  "  boom  "  the  town. 
It  shows  how  systematic  and  expensive  were  the 
solicitations  to  new  miners  to  come  to  Spring 
Valley,  to  buy  lots,  to  overstock  the  labor 
market,  an-d  to  menace  the  locked-out  men  al- 
ready there  with  the  permanent  loss  of  their 
places.  It  baits  again  the  old  trap  of  the 
"  home"  and  "  the  vine  and  fig  tree."  It  is 
silent  as  the  sphinx  aboutyour  lock-out,  still  in 
force,  which  had  lasted  eleven  months  for  one- 
third  the  men  and  seven  months  for  all  of 
them,  ignoring  that,  it  renews  the  promises, 
so  cruelly  falsified,  of  the  original  rainbow  ad- 
vertisements of  "  steady  work"  and  the  "highest 
wages.".  The  terms  in  which  it  describes  the 
six   shafts  "  now   open,"  and  the   price   which 

is"  paid  of  82^  cents  a  ton,  are  obviously 
designed  to  conceal  the  fact  that  no  wages 
were  beingearned  at  all,  and  that  the  six  shafts 
were  closed  to  all  the  men,  except  fifty  or 
sixty  who  were  working  in  the  middle  vein. 
The  uninformed  miner  reading  this  pamphlet 
would  believe  Spring  Valley  to  be  in  the  mid- 
career  of  busy  prosperit}';  not  until  he  arrived 
would  he  learn  the  truth,  and  discover  that  the 
invitation  he  had   accepted  was  but  a  "  busi- 


FEED    MY   LAMBS.  1 93 

ness  man's  "  maneuver  to  use  him  against 
brother  workingmen.  This  pamphlet  was 
openly  addressed  to  miners.  It  was  dated 
November  ist,  it  was  widely  circulated,  it  is 
signed  by  the  officers  of  the  company,  it  soli- 
cits miners  to  come  to  Spring  Valley,  even 
gives  the  railroad  fare  from  Chicago;  and  yet 
the  spokesman  of  the  company  has  the  face  to 
declare,  in  a  public  card  over  his  own  signa- 
ture four  weeks  later,  that  the  miners  who 
filled  Spring  Valley  came  there  "without  our 
solicitation." 

When  the  president  of  the  Spring  Valley 
Coal  Company  says  the  miners  now  in  Spring 
Valley  came  "  without  solicitation,"  he  has 
to  face  even  more  damnatory  evidence  than 
this  pamphlet.  In  his  letter  of  November  2d, 
to  the  men  quoted  above  on  page  1 7 1 ,  he  says : 
"  We  have  arranged  to  send  men  to  Spring 
Valley,  and  are  meeting  with  more  success  than 
we  expected. " 

It  is  by  such  strokes  of  "  enterprise  "  that 
the  conditions  of  dissatisfaction  and  the  sense 
of  wrong  are  created  among  the  working 
people. 

It  is  seldom  that  facts  like  these  —  as  real 
facts  of  supply  and  demand  as  any  others  — 
get    to    the    public.      Professors     of    political 

13 


194  A    STRIKE   OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

economy  do  not  come  near  enough  to  realities 
to  discover  these  things;  the  workingmen  do 
not  know  how  to  bring  them  before  pubhc 
opinion.  All  possible  pains  are  taken  to  con- 
ceal these  tactics,  to  keep  them  subterranean, 
and  deny  them,  as  is  done  in  this  case.  But 
it  is  such  deceit  and  betrayal  and  false  guid- 
ance that  make  the  difference  to  the  working- 
man  between  mere  subsistence  and  killing 
poverty.  To  the  employer  they  mean  success 
in  getting  lower  wages  and  higher  dividends; 
he  lives  at  the  comfortable  altitude  where  the 
alternations  of  the  economic  climate  are  only 
between  the  more  and  less  of  too  much.  He 
seems  to  be  unable  to  understand  the  suffering 
or  the  resentment  of  the  working  people 
whom  his  business  stratagems  (so  pleasant  to 
him)  reduce  from  too  little  to  nothing. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

"  MILLIONS  IN  it!  " 

"  How  can  such  things  be  true?  "  the  public 
ask,  appalled.  "  Even  if  there  is  no  humanity 
or  justice  in  these  men,  their  interest  ought  to 
restrain  them.  They  lose  when  their  mines 
are  shut,  the  sales  of  land  arrested,  the  com- 
pany store  closed,  the  coal  traffic  of  the  North- 
Western  suspended.  What  can  the  motive 
be?  These  men  are  not  monsters  who  would 
torture  the  poor  when  there  is  no  money  in  it 
for  them." 

There  is  money  in  it.  There  is  millions  in 
it. 

It  has  been  a  good  speculation  for  all  of 
you,  this  successful  attempt  to  cheapen  the 
men  and  destroy  their  union.  Besides  the 
profit  that  will  be  made  by  forfeiting  all  the 
money,*  and  regaining  possession  of  the  lands 

*  The  latest  nevs  from  Spring  Valley  is  that  the  company  is  pushing 
the  men  hard  for  back  payments  on  the  lots  bought  by  them  previous  to 
the  lock-out.  In  almost  all  cases  this  must  end  in  the  forfeiture  of  the 
lot  and  all  the  money  so  far  paid  in.  This  forfeiture  will  be  the  direct 
result  of  the  lock-out,  and  the  company  will  make  a  handsome  profit  out 
of  its  own  wrongdoing —  thereby  violating  one  of  the  fundamental  princi- 
ples on  which  social  life  is  based. 

19s) 


196  A  STRIKE  OF  MIIXIOXAIRES. 


•wMdi  Willi  of  itself  roll  up,  in  the  conrse  of 
years,  to  thoMsaiiids  per  cent,  of  profit  on  the 
wihole  inves.taneinit.  The  coal  company  has 
40,000  acres  of  coal  land,  or  sixtj'-six  sqnare 
miles,  the  largest  estate  of  any  coal-mining 
CC' mpvaay  in  the  vrorM. 

Tiie  circialar,  *  A  Woird  to  Miners,'"  qmoted 
above,  states  that  there  aie  *  three  wdl-defined 
and  workable  veins,  the  first  at  a  depth  of  I  yO 
feet,  averaging  fomr  feet;  *  »  » 

the  second,  250  feet  below  the  sianiace.  five  to 
seven  feet  tMck;  *  *  *  -;-; 

third,  550  feet  below  the  snrface,  three  feet 
eii^ht  inches  to  fomr  feet  thick.""  The  formmla 
msed  bv  mining  emgineers  in  these  fields  to  find 
the  amomnt  of  coal  in  these  veins  gives  i  ,000 
tons  of  coal  per  aoie  to  every  foot  of  thickness 
in  the  vein.  Hence,  according  to  the  com- 
panv's  statement,  that  its  three  veans  ft>ot  np 
aboiai  fomrteen  feet  thick,  it  mmst  have  14,000 
tons  of  coal  per  acre  for  the  whole  40,000 
acres.  This  womld  be  560,000,000  tons  in  alL 
On  tiae  cost  of  diggjimg  this,  they  have  secanred 
by  their  war  on  the  workingmen  a  irediiBCltjoB 
of  not  less  than  tea  cents  a  ton,  besides  ad- 
vanta£!es  in  the  iron-dad  ooandtract  wortii  solid 


M 


MILLIONS  IM  IT."  1 97 


money.  This  saving  of  ten  cents  a  ton  on 
your  560,000,000  tons  makes  the  pretty  penny 
of  $56,000,000.  The  total  investment  of  the 
coal  company  has  not  been  much  more  than 
$1,000,000  —  it  pays  taxes  on  only  $166,994 
—  and  this  single  campaign,  according  to  its 
own  figures  of  the  amount  of  coal,  yields  a 
profit  of  5,000  per  cent,  and  more;  a  profit 
from  this  single  summer's  campaign  of  over 
$50  for  every  dollar  invested. 

You  have  no  right  to  growl  with  these  fig- 
ures, for  they  are  your  own.  But  the  truth 
is  they  are  incorrect.  The  company,  in 
its  "  Word  to  Miners,"  grossly  exaggerated 
the  amount  of  coal  to  be  mined,  and  did  so 
as  a  part  of  its  tactics  to  beguile  innocent  and 
trusting  workingmen  into  its  paradise  of 
"  steady  employment  "  "  at  $3.50  to  $4  a  day." 
But  the  public  must  not  be  misinformed,  even 
though  it  would  serve  the  company  right  to  let 
its  figures  stand  to  its  own  confusion.  Mining 
engineers  who  have  made  a  thorough  investi- 
gation of  the  coat  fields  in  the  vicinity  of 
Spring  Valley  agree  that  there  are,  as  nearly 
as  can  be  figured  out,  about  5,000  tons  per 
acre.  On  this  basis,  your  mines  will  yield 
200,000,000  tons,  and  your  midsummer  cam- 
paign of  starvation  and   slander  against  your 


198  A   STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

men  will  give  you  a  saving  of  $20,000,000  in 
the  cost  of  mining  it. 

The  paid-up  capital  of  the  coal  company  is 
$2,500,000.  At  that  figure,  as  the  annual 
capacity  is  1,000,000  to  1,500,000  tons,  the 
saving  of  ten  cents  a  ton  will  of  itself  pay  a 
yearly  dividend  of  4@6  per  cent,  on  the 
whole  of  it.  No  wonder  that  your  bashaw 
confidently  announced  that  he  would  keep  the 
mines  closed  a  year,  two  years,  as  many 
years  as  needed,  and  that,  if  needed,  he  would 
make  the  grass  grow  in  the  streets. 

You  who  own  the  coal  company  could  afford 
even  a  longer  idleness.  Time  cannot  take 
away  your  coal,  nor  your  lots,  nor  the  rail- 
road ;  but  it  began,  the  day  after  the  lock-out, 
to  eat  away  the  hearts  and  homes,  souls  and 
bodies,  loves  and  lives  of  the  poor  ones  from 
whom  you  had  determined  to  steal  the 
$20,000,000  by  the  brute  force  of  your  mill- 
ions and  monopolies. 

Mankind  shuddered  when  Louis  XIV.  gave 
the  order  that  the  Palatinate,  alien  to  him  in 
race  and  religion,  be  ravaged.  What  will  the 
public,  to  which  you  appeal,  say  of  you  when 
they  comprehend  the  true  nature  of  the  ruin 
you  have   visited  for  your  "profit"  on  men, 


"  MILLIONS    IN    IT.  1 99 

women,   and    children  of  your  own    country, 
fellow-citizens,  and  your  "  partners  "  ? 

What  has  been  done  at  Spring  Valley  is  not  an 
extremecase;  ithassimplybeen  given extrapub- 
licity.      It  is  a  perfect  illustration  of  our  monop- 
olistic morals.      You  owners  of  Spring  Valley 
have  simply  pushed  a  little  farther  than  poorer 
men  would  have  dared  to  do,  the  principles  of 
buying  cheap  and  selling  dear,  and  the  manip- 
ulation  of  the    "  Eternal  law"  of  supply   and 
demand.      The   Spring  Valley  case    is  only  a 
well-illustrated     instance,    which    shows    how 
rapidly  the  industry  of  this  country  is  passing 
out  of  the  control  of  business  men  into  that  of 
business   animals,  whose   prototypes    must  be 
sought  among  the  carnivora  that  go  on  all  fours, 
and  who  need,  as  Emerson  said  of  similar  men 
of  his  time,  to  be  educated   out    of  the  quad- 
ruped   state.     The    majority   of   our   business 
men  are  being  consumed,  as  well  as  the  work- 
ingmen,  by  such  monsters.      The  workingmen 
feel  the  devouring  tooth  of"  monopoly"  more 
keenly  and  more  promptly  than  business  men, 
simply   because    they   are   weaker,  and  have  a 
narrower  margin  between  themselves  and  death. 
Prescience  should  arouse  among  business  men 
an  even  sharper  ferment   of  reform    than  dis- 
tresshas  created amongthe  workingmen.     Busi- 


200  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

ness  men  should  make  common  cause  with  the 
workingmen.  Only  by  such  a  cooperation 
can  the  country  be  saved  from  the  catastrophe 
toward  which  its  rights,  prosperity,  and  liber- 
ties are  being  hurried  by  the  greed  and  lust 
of  a  small  body  of  the  richest  and  most  danger- 
ously disloyal  men  popular  government  has 
ever  been  threatened  by 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

SPRING   VALLEY    ONLY    A    SKIRMISH. 

The  trouble  between  you  and  your  men  at 
Spring  Valley  is  one  of  the  incidents  of  a  social 
war  which  is  raging  in  the  soft  coal  regions. 
In  this  civil  strife  the  mine-owners  and  rail- 
roads of  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illi- 
nois are  fighting  with  each  other,  and  with  the 
workingmen.  It  is  part  of  the  history  of  this 
calamitou  struggle  that  the  workingmen  have 
opposed  it,  and  have  advocated  an  enlightened 
policy  of  cooperation,  which,  if  the  capitalist 
and  corporations  had  been  as  civilized,  would 
have  put  an  end  to  the  industrial  war  with  its 
incalculable  losses  —  losses  in  life,  as  well  as  in 
property.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  it  was  at 
the  suggestion  of  the  workingmen  that  a  joint 
organization  of  mine-owners  or  operators,  and 
miners  was  formed  in  1885,  which  for  three 
years  established  peace  in  this  industry.  On 
this  subject  the  following  from  the  report  on  the 
coal-miners'    strike    and  lock-out  in   northern 

Illinois,  by  J.  M.  Gould   and  Fred.  H.  Wines, 

(201) 


202  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

special  commissioners   appointed  by  the  gov- 
ernor, August,  1889   (page  10),  is  of  interest: 

"  The  executive  board  of  the  '  National  Fed- 
eration of  Miners  and  Mine-Laborers,'  in 
session  at  Indianapolis,  September  12,  1885, 
issued  an  address  requesting  the  mine  operators 
of  the  United  States  to  meet  with  said  board, 
'  for  the  purpose  of  adjusting  the  market  and 
mining  prices  in  such  a  way  as  to  avoid  strikes 
and  lock-outs,  and  give  to  each  party  an  in- 
creased profit  from  the  sale  of  coal.' 

"  At  a  convention  held  in  Chicago,  October 
15,  1885,  at  which  both  operators  and  miners 
were  present,  this  call  by  the  miners  alone  was 
indorsed,  and  a  joint  committee  of  three  oper- 
ators and  three  miners  was  appointed  to  in- 
vite the  cooperation  of  all  engaged  in  coal- 
mining in  America,  and  to  call  a  meeting  of 
operators  and  miners  in  joint  convention  at 
Pittsburgh,   on   the    15th   of  December,    1885. 

"  At  the  Pittsburgh  convention  a  scale  of 
prices  for  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and 
Illinois  was  drafted,  which  was  afterward  ap- 
proved by  the  '  First  Annual  Joint  Conference 
of  Miners  and  Operators  '  at  Columbus,  Ohio, 
in  February,  1886.  This  scale  was  known  as 
the  Pittsburgh  scale, 

"  The  scale  was   revised  at  the  second  an- 


SPRING    VALLEY    ONLY   A   SKIRMISH.     203 

nual    conference,    also  at   Columbus,    in  Feb- 
ruary, 1887. 

"  It  was  again    revised    at   the   third  annual 
conference  at  Pittsburgh,  in  February,  1888." 

This  movement  to  substitute  the  methods  of 
reason  for  those  of  force  became  abortive  through 
the  failure  of  the  operators  —  employers  — 
to  sustain  it.  The  mine-owners  of  southern 
Illinois  refused  to  enter  the  organization. 
Those  of  northern  Illinois  consequently  with- 
drew in  1888,  and  the  final  disruption  was 
brought  about  in  1889,  by  the  withdrawal  of 
the  Indiana  operators.  The  movement  was 
started  by  the  workingmen  and  loyally  sup- 
ported by  them,  but  killed  by  the  business  and 
railroadmen.  In  southern  Illinois,  the  miners, 
despite  the  hostility  of  the  operators,  did  their 
best  to  establish  the  system,  and  through  their 
union  succeeded  in  advancing  wages  to  the 
figure  set  for  their  district  by  the  joint  conven- 
tion. The  workingmen  were  faithful  in  all 
instances.  But  the  Grape  Creek  Coal  Com- 
pany of  Illinois,  although  one  of  the  parties  to 
the  scale,  after  agreeing  to  it,  refused  to  accept 
it,  and  kept  their  men  out  of  work  for  two 
years,  until  at  the  end  of  one  of  the  most 
righteous  and  obstinate  labor  strikes  on  record 
the    men    were  compelled   to   give   in.      Such 


204  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

action  as  this,  and  the  failure  of  the  mine- 
owners  of  southern  Illinois  to  join  the  move- 
ment, and  the  withdrawal  of  the  northern 
Illinois  and  Indiana  operators  brought  this 
most  hopeful  effort  for  industrial  peace  to  a 
close.  The  differing  attitudes  of  the  working- 
men  and  the  employers  show  the  difference  in 
their  philosophy  produced  by  the  difference  in 
their  circumstances.  The  workingman  repre- 
sents the  multitude  —  the  people.  He  knows 
by  a  sure  instinct  that  war  is  fatal  to  his  wel- 
fare. The  business  man  represents  the  few 
who  aspire  to  supremacy  over  the  many  by 
war.  He  welcomes  the  struggle,  with  all  its 
chances,  for  one  of  these  chances  is  that  he 
may  win  great  wealth,  and  be  elevated  above 
all  his  associates.  The  workingman  stands 
for  the  democratic  principle  in  business  ;  the 
capitalist  for  the  aristocratic. 

Behind  the  failures  of  the  peace  movement 
in  the  coal  industry,  may  be  easily  seen  the 
malign  influence  of  the  railroads.  Space  for- 
bids to  give  the  details  here,  but  broadly,  the 
refusal  of  the  southern  Illinois  mines  to  enter 
was  because  by  doing  so  they  and  the  railroads 
with  which  they  are  interlinked  would  have  lost 
the  advantage  ofmaking  secret  and  unfair  freight 
rates.     The  withdrawal  of  the  northern  Illinois 


SPRING    VALLEY   ONLY   A    SKIRMISH.     205 


mines  had  a  similar  element  in  it.  At  the  open- 
ing of  the  Pittsburgh  conference  of  1888,  a 
leading  operator  boldly  charged  that  there  had 
been  a  "  conspiracy  between  the  railway  officials 
of  the  Northwestern  railroads  and  the  opera- 
tors of  the  Northwestern  mines  of  Illinois  to 
shut  out  of  the  great  markets  of  the  North- 
west, as  far  as  they  were  able,  the  coal  mined 
in  Pennsylvania  and  in  Ohio." 

The  principal  owners  of  the  important  coal 
mines  are  often  owners  and  officials  of  the  allied 
railroads,  and  they  believed  they  could  do 
better  in  a  demoralized  market,  with  the  help 
of  "  rebates,"  than  they  could  by  assenting  to 
any  open  and  harmonious  arrangement  to 
settle  prices  and  wages.  They  might  be  the 
"  fittest  "  who  would  survive  the  general  ruin. 
The  baleful  disorganizing  "rebate"  appears 
again  in  the  closing  scene,  when  at  the  last 
joint  convention,  that  at  Columbus,  March  12, 
1889,  the  Indiana  operators  withdrew.  From 
the  debates  in  the  last  joint  convention,  it  is 
apparent  that  the  mine-owners  of  Indiana 
calculated  that  they  could  make  more  money 
by  breaking  up  this  arrangement  than  by 
perpetuating  it.  If  they  withdrew  from  the 
mutual  obligations  it  imposed  on  them  with 
respect   to    their    competitors    of    Ohio    and 


206  A   STRIKE    OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

Pennsylvania,  who  still  remained,  and  their 
employes,  they  could  have  recourse  to  two 
sources  of  profit.  First,  they  could  obtain 
from  the  railroads  that  connected  them  with 
Chicago  such  discriminating  freight  rates  as  to 
give  them  an  insuperable  advantage  in  the 
market;  second,  they  could  whipsaw  down  the 
wages  of  their  miners  to  almost  any  point  by 
the  use  of  the  unemployed  labor,  so  plentiful  on 
all  hands.  They  withdrew,  and  the  joint  con- 
vention, after  four  years'  existence,  adjourned 
sine  die.  In  an  eloquent  speech,*  begging  the 
operators  and  miners  not  to  separate,  Col.  W. 
P.  Rend  said: 

It  is  not  for  the  interest  alone  of  the  miners  tliat  a  settlement 
sliould  1)6  reached.  It  is  not  for  tlie  niterests  of  the  operator 
alone  that  a  settlement  should  be  reached.  It  is  for  the  interest 
of  both.  It  is  for  tlie  interest  of  the  great  jirinciple  of  conciHation 
that,  for  the  first  time,  I  believe,  in  the  industrial  history  of  the 
country,  has  been  given  effect  to  by  the  miners  and  operators. 
*  *  *  It  is  apparent  that  this  question  has  got  to  be  settled 
by  one  of  two  methods.  We  have  got  to  employ  one  of  two 
agencies  :  the  agency  of  force  or  reason.  Gentlemen,  which 
shall  we  employ?  Shall  we  resort  to  brutal  strikes  and  lock-outs 
again?  Is  that  your  wish?  Is  it  the  wish  of  any  operator  here 
to  go  back  to  the  old  system;  to  the  old  plan  of  fighting  the 
miners,  the  plan  that  entails  loss  of  capital,  the  plan  which 
brings  with  it  oftentimes  scenes  of  bloodshed  and  disorder  to 
the  State,  and  which  engenders  feelings  of  enmity  and  hatred 

*  From  the  official  verbatim  report  of  the  Fourth  Annual  Joint  Con- 
ference of  Miners  and  Operators  held  at  Indianapolis,  February  5-7,  and 
Columbus,  IMarch  12-14,  1889.      (Pages  112,  113,  114,  115.) 


SPRING   VALLEY    ONLY    A    SKIRMISH.     20/ 

between  capital  and  labor?  I  do  not  believe  that  you  want 
to  go  back  to  that  old  system.  The  other  system  is  that 
of  reason  and  intelligence,  of  using  the  highest  power  and 
the  highest  faculty  that  God  Almighty  has  given  us.  Three 
or  four  years  ago  we  decided  that  the  agency  of  reason  was 
the  proper  one  for  us  to  employ.  We  met  together ;  opera- 
tors and  miners  both  raised  their  voice  in  condemnation  of 
the  system  of  strikes  that  had  characterized,  and  I  might 
say  brutalized,  the  industry  before.  After  a  great  deal  of 
discussion  and  several  conferences,  we  found  a  common 
standing  ground.  We  formulated  scales.  We  established 
peace,  we  established  concord,  we  established  good-will,  where 
before  there  had  been  either  open  warfare  or  an  unfriendly 
peace,  and  where  before  there  had  been  discord,  enmity  and 
hatred.  We  have  accomplished  marvelous  results,  gentlemen, 
during  the  last  three  years.  I  do  not  think  that  the  most  san- 
guine of  the  originators  of  this  plan  had  believed  that  such 
gi-and  results  could  be  accomplished  in  such  a  short  time.  Now, 
gentlemen,  it  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  delay  you  in  going  over 
the  history  of  our  dealings  during  the  past  three  years.  Suffice 
it  to  say  that  we  are  convinced  of  the  wisdom  and  justice  of  the 
principles  of  arbitration. 

*  *  *  When  this  movement  was  first  organized  it  was 
treated  with  ridicule.  It  had  no  friends.  Many  of  the  operators 
of  the  United  States  looked  upon  it  as  averse  to  their  interests. 
They  said  :  "  Clentlemen,  you  will  build  up  a  gigantic  Miners' 
Union,  that  will  use  its  strength  to  make  war  upon  us." 
"  You  are  giving  strength  to  the  enemy,"  they  said.  I  did  not 
believe  it.  A  great  many  of  them  called  it  a  delusion.  They 
said:  "It  is  an  impossibility  for  so  many  interests  to  agree 
where  there  is  such  a  conflict  and  such  a  complication  of  inter- 
ests. It  is  impossible  to  adopt  any  scale  or  any  general 
arrangement  between  operators  and  miners."  Where  it  was 
not  looked  upon  as  folly,  it  was  regarded  by  many  operators 
as  a  vague  chimera.  We  have  demonstrated  by  three  years' 
trial  and  experience  that  it  has  been  a  strength  to  the  cause 
of  capital;  it  has  helped  capital.     (Applause.)     Gentlemen,  no 


2o8  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

man  here  in  this  room,  I  beheve,  representing  the  operators, 
will  deny  the  fact  that  the  last  three  years  have  been  the  best 
period  that  we  have  experienced  in  the  entire  history  of  the 
coal  trade.  You  have  derived  a  benefit  from  it.  I  have  been 
benefited  by  it,  and  it  is  useless,  it  is  false,  for  any  man  to  get  up 
and  say  that  this  movement  has  been  injurious  to  the  interests 
of  capital.  It  has  been  a  benefit  to  the  interests  of  capital  and 
labor,  and  you  have  both  been  benefited  by  this  peaceful  mode  of 
settlement.  Before  this,  as  I  said  before,  there  was  a  general 
feeling  of  hostility.  We  looked  upon  one  anotlier  as  enemies. 
We  did  not  understand  one  another,  gentlemen.  We  did  not 
understand  each  other's  position.  The  miner  felt  that  he  was  a 
victim  of  wrong,  of  grave  oppression.  He  felt  that  capital  was 
a  hard  taskmaster,  that  ground  him  down.  He  felt  justified, 
whenever  an  opportunity  presented  itself  where  he  could  take 
advantage  of  his  employer,  in  taking  that  advantage.  The 
pain  of  his  suffering  became  more  intense,  from  the  belief  that 
his  employer  was  the  cause  of  his  privation  and  misery.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  operator  looked  upon  the  miner  as  unrea- 
soning, and  as  turbulent.  He  felt  that  no  matter  what  con- 
cessions he  made,  no  matter  what  he  did,  no  matter  what  act 
of  kindness  he  would  extend,  he  would  be  rewarded  with  in- 
gratitude. These  opinions  were  largely  false,  and  due  to  mis- 
conceptions. Their  falsity  has  become  apparent  from  the  happy 
experience  of  the  past  three  years.  We  have  now  become  ac- 
quainted, and  mutually  understand  each  others'  purposes  and 
sentiments.  The  men  we  have  met  here  —  I  say  it  with  no 
idea  of  flattery,  no  idea  of  currying  any  favors;  I  ask  no  favors 
of  any  man  (Applause) —  but  I  say  that  the  men  we  have  come 
here  to  meet,  we  feel  it  an  honor  to  meet.  They  are  men 
of  intelligence;  they  are  thoughtful  men,  and  they  mean  to 
act  fairly  and  justly.  They  state  their  case  fairly,  and  they 
argue  it  well.  We  find  they  are  better  equipped  and  belter 
prepared  with  arguments  than  we  are.  We  find  able  men  here 
representing  the  miners.  We  are  proud  to  meet  men  of  this 
kind.  Now  we  are  dealing  with  intelligence,  where  oftentimes 
before  we  had  to  deal  with  ignorance.     Sound  sense,  good  judg- 


SPRING   VALLEY   ONLY   A    SKIRMISH.     209 

■*.■ 

ment  and  a  spirit   of  fairness   characterize    tire  demands  and 
claims  here  presented  I)y  the  miners'  delegates." 

The  break-down  of  the  joint  organization  of 
miners  and  operators  was  followed  by  a  season 
of  strikes  and  lock-outs,  ending  in  great  losses 
to  all,  and  in  reductions  of  wages  to  the  min- 
ers; but  the  problem  of  organizing  for  the 
common  good,  thus  selfishly  abandoned  by 
the  capitalists,  has  been  taken  up  again  by 
the  workingmen.  After  the  lock-out  and 
strikes  of  the  soft-coal  region  were  over. 
President  John  McBride,  of  the  Miners'  Pro- 
gressive Union,  issued  the  following  call  for  a 
convention  of  five  States: 

National  Progre.ssive  Union  Miners  ) 

AND  Mine  Laborers,  [- 

Gen.  Office,  Columbus,  Nov   18,  1889.  ) 

Tlie  miners  of  northern  Illinois,  Indiana,  ()hio,  western 
Illinois,  western  Pennsylvania  and  West  \'irginia,  whose  coal 
goes  into  Western  and  Northwestern  markets,  are  hereby  noti- 
hed  that  a  convention  of  this  competitive  district  will  be  held 
in  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  at  10  A.  M.,  on  Wednesday,  December 
18,  1889. 

All  miners  not  organized  are  requested  to  meet  at  their 
respective  mines  to  select  and  send  delegates  to  this  conven- 
tion. 

The  objects  of  this  convention  will  be  to  consider  and 
determine  upon  a  policy  by  and  through  which  the  interests  of 
the  miners  and  mine  laborers  may  be  better  protected  and  their 
wages  advanced  during  the  coming  year. 

The  joint  movement  of  operators  and  miners  for  the  adjust- 
ment of  mining  rates  in  this  district  gave  good  results -to  both 

14 


2IO  A    STRIKE    OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

parties  while  it  lasted,  but  the  withdrawal  of  Illinois  and  Indi- 
ana operators  from  the  movement  and  the  bitter  warfare  waged 
by  them  since  May  last  against  their  employes  makes  it  prac- 
tically impossible  for  us  to  meet  them  in  convention  next 
spring. 

The  experience  of  the  last  six  months  proves  to  us  that  min- 
ers in  no  one  or  two  States  in  this  district  should  again  enter 
into  an  agreement  with  their  employers  and  allow  miners  in 
other  sections  of  the  district  to  do  all  the  striking.  We  must 
stand  cr  fall  together  as  a  district. 

We  prefer  peace  rather  than  contentii  n  with  the  operators, 
but  the  good  of  our  craftsmen  in  this  field  now  depends  that  we 
either  secure  a  general  agreement  or  depend  upon  our  own 
efforts  to  win  just  and  equitable  rates  and  conditions.  The  lat- 
ler,  judging  from  present  surroundings,  seems  inevitable  during 
the  coming  year,  hence  we  advise  the  consideration  of  a  policy 
that  will  include,  among  other  things  : 

1.  Restriction  either  in  hours,  tonnage  or  by  a  series  of  sus- 
pensions at  stated  intervals  throughout  the  entire  competitive 
district. 

2.  The  creation  of  a  large  defense  fund  between  this  and  May 
I,  1890,  to  be  used  for  the  carrying  out  of  the  policy  agreed 
upon  by  the  convention. 

The  conditions  of  the  coal  market  now  warrant  better  prices 
than  are  being  paid  for  mining,  and,  if  our  judgment  is  not  seri- 
ously at  fault,  next  year  will  increase  the  prosjierity  of  the  coal 
mining  industry.  It  will  be  our  own  fault  if  we  do  not  receive 
better  returns  for  labor  performed  next  year. 

We  now  ask  that  each  miner  do  his  duty,  and  urge  immediate 
election  of  delegates.     Fraternally  yours, 

John  McBride,  Prest. 

In  opening  the  convention,  called  as  above, 
President   McBride  said,  among  other  things  : 

The  history  of  the  "joint  movement"  in  this  competitive 
district  during  the  past  four  years  has  clearly  demonstrated  that 


SPRING  VALLEY    ONLY   A    SKIRMISH.     211 

in  an  intellectual  contest  we  have  been  able  to  hold  our  own 
with  the  owners  and  operators  of  mines,  and  I  do  not  hesitate 
in  saying  that,  were  disputes  between  mine  employers  and 
employes  to  be  adjusted  by  arbitration,  instead  of  by  a  resort 
to  strikes,  the  ability  of  your  representatives,  aided  by  facts  and 
the  logic  of  the  situation,  would  have  retained  prices  and  bet- 
tered mining  conditions  throughout  the  competitive  district ; 
but  the  discordant  and  demoralized  state  our  forces  were  in, 
together  with  their  weakness  financially,  seemed  to  court  the 
destruction  of  conciliatory  methods,  and  invite  a  conflict 
with  operators  which  could  not  but  end  in  loss  and  disaster 
to  us. 

To  relieve  the  distress  of  those  on  strike  and  to  reduce  their 
wants  to  a  minimum,  is  a  duty  devolving  upon  our  craftsmen 
who  continue  at  work,  but  to  our  shame  it  must  be  said  that 
this  duty  has  been  but  indifferently  discharged  in  the  past  by 
the  great  majority  of  those  who  had  work  to  do,  and  as  a  re- 
sult their  fellow-miners  who  were  striking  and  suffering  were 
compelled  to  accept  defeat,  starve  or  appeal  for  aid  to  a  sympa- 
thetic and  charitable  public. 

If  miners  and  mine  laborers  would  but  do  their  duty  toward 
each  other  this  need  not  occur  ;  and  I  am  sick  and  tired  of  being 
humiliated  year  in  and  year  out  by  having  to  jiublish  to  the 
world  that  my  craftsmen  are  so  lacking  in  energy  and  enterprise 
that,  rather  than  make  proper  financial  provisions  in  time  of 
peace  to  protect  their  interests  during  periodical  and  apparently 
inevitable  wage  contests,  they  prefer  to  be  classed  as  paupers 
and  mendicants.  This  language  may  sound  severe  and  harsh 
to  you — it  certainly  is  not  pleasant  to  me — but  it  is  true,  and 
we  are  forcil)ly  reminded  of  its  truth  by  the  fact  that  during  the 
several  months'  strike  of  the  nine  thousand  miners  and  mine 
laborers  in  Indiana  and  Illinois  only  about  forty  thousand  dol- 
lars in  money  and  goods  was  contril)uted  to  aid  them.  This 
would  be  but  a  small  amount  for  the  more  than  sixty  thousand 
nime  workers  of  this  competitive  district  to  pay,  hut  the  records 
show  that  fully  one-half  of  this  sum  was  contributed  by  others 
than  mine  workers,  and  this  showing  is  not  creditable  to  us. 


212  A    STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

No  wonder  that  operators  so  loudly  boasted  of  their  ability  to 
starve  their  miners  into  submission. 

The  convention  adopted  the  following  reso- 
lutions: 

Whereas,  The  almost  total  defeat  of  the  miners  of  North- 
ern Illinois  and  in  the  block  coal  fields  of  Indiana  has  caused 
them  to  lose  by  cessation  of  work  for  six  months,  and  by  re- 
duced wages  for  the  next  six  months,  at  least  half  a  million 
dollars,  and  to  this  may  be  added  the  amount  of  money  con- 
tributed by  those  not  engaged  in  the  strike  ;  and. 

Whereas,  The  miners  in  other  parts  of  the  competitive 
field  are  now  in  danger  of  having  prices  and  conditions  similar 
to  Indiana  and  Illinois  forced  upon  them;  to  prevent  such  a 
calamity,  mine  workers  of  the  entire  district  must  decide,  and 
decide  quickly,  to  cease  complaining  about  their  inability  fo  live 
upon  their  meager  earnings,  and  purpose  to  make  a  mutual  and 
determined  fight  along  the  line  by  contributions  of  a  few  dol- 
lars each  to  a  fund  that  will  be  large  enough  to  guarantee  the 
success  of  a  strike  inaugurated  to  restore,  not  alone  the  old 
rates  in  Illinois  and  Indiana,  but  an  increased  price  throughout 
the  entire  field.  This  must  be  done,  or  all  go  down  to  a  lower 
level.     Therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  we  favor  the  creation  of  a  fund  large  enough 
for  both  offensive  and  defensive  purposes,  and  with  this  end  in 
view  we  recommend  that  mine  workers  throughout  the  entire 
competitive  district  be  assessed  $i  per  month  for  the  months  of 
February,  March  and  April,  the  sum  to  be  paid  into  the  general 
treasury;  and 

Resolved,  That  we  advise  our  mine  workers  of  this  district 
to  consider,  that,  if  an  amount  equal  to  one-half  the  money  lost 
through  the  failure  of  the  late  strikes  was  centered  in  a  general 
fund,  it  would  prevent  defeat  in  future  contests  for  wage  adjust- 
ment.    Be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  the  mine  workers  of  this  district  instruct 
their  delegates  to  the  national  convention,  to  be  held  in  Colum- 


SPRING   VALLEY   ONLY    A   SKIRMISH.    213 

bes,  Ohio,  at  an  early  date,  to  vote  for  or  against  the  creation 
of  such  a  general  fund  by  the  methods  herein  advised,  and  to 
also  provide  for  the  election  of  a  board  of  trustees  and  proper 
safeguards  to  prevent  the  misuse  of  any  part  of  the  funds  for 
purposes  other  than  those  for  which  it  is  asked  to  be  created. 

Whereas,  The  reports  of  the  delegates  show  that  the 
miners  represented  are  almost  unanimous  in  their  desire  to  have 
the  eight-hour  day  imposed  in  the  competitive  district,  either  on 
May  I,  1890,  or  as  soon  thereafter  as  practicable,  therefore, 
be  it 

Resolved,  That  we  ask  the  miners  and  mine  \\orkers  in  this 
competitive  field  to  prepare  to  put  the  eight-hour  day  in  force 
on  May  i,  1S90,  and  that  our  delegates  to  the  Columbus  con- 
vention urge  the  co-operation  of  miners. 

Resolved,  That  we  are  in  favor  of  a  restriction  in  the  output 
of  coal  in  this  competitive  field  and  leave  to  the  Columbus  Con- 
vention to  determine  the  best  method  of  restriction  and  the 
time  it  shall  take  effect. 

Resolved,  That  this  convention  urge  the  miners  of  Illinois  to 
use  every  available  means  to  establish  a  shorter  interval  between 
pay  days. 

If  there  has  been  any  movement  among  the 
operators  toward  organization,  it  has  not  been 
pubh"c,  Hke  all  the  proceedings  of  tlie  miners. 
But  it  is  not  likely  any  such  movement  has 
been  attempted.  The  forces  at  work  among 
the  capitalists,  are  forces  of  selfishness  and 
disintegration,  not  of  union  for  mutual  benefit. 
A  desperate  struggle  is  on  for  the  partition  of 
the  soft  coal  business  of  the  country  among  the 
leading  railroads  and  their  business  favorites. 
The  interests  of  the  miners,  of  the  operators, 
and  of  the  public,  must  all  stand  in  abeyance 


214  A    STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

until   this  process    of  coal    monopolization  is 
settled.      If  it  is  settled  by  the  survival  of  the 
"  fittest  "   of  these    anarchical    contestants,   it 
will  be  found  too  late  that  another  American 
industry  has  passed  under  the  absolute  control 
of  a  few  men.      These  men  will  be  able  to  fix 
by  the  tariffs  of  a  few  railroad  managers,  and 
by    the  votes    of  a    half-dozen    trustees,  what 
men  shall  be  permitted   to   own  and    operate 
coal  mines,  how  much  coal  shall  be  mined  each 
year,    what    mines    shall    be    operated,  which 
closed,  what  price  the  public  shall  pay,  what 
wages   the  miners   shall  receive,   and   at  wdiat 
points   the  industry  of  America  dependent   on 
fuel  shall  or  shall  not  be  permitted  to  expand. 
The    men    who   have    this   power    in  the  coal 
market  will  have  much  to  say,  also,  along  with 
similar    lords    of  industry    in    other    markets, 
about  who   shall  be  senator,  president,  judge, 
what  laws   shall   be    enacted,   and   how    taxes 
shall  be  apportioned  among  the  people.      Only 
a  fool  can   suppose   that   the   republic   of  the 
United    States    of   America    will    survive    the 
continuance   of  such   a  system   as  this,  which 
before  our  eyes   is  being  set   up   in   the    most 
■  important     departments    of    the    life    of    the 
American  people. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

FIRST   FRUITS  —  WHAT    WILL    THE     LAST    BE? 

BONAMY  Price,  then   Professor  of  Political 
Economy  at   Oxford,  visiting   Chicago,  called 
about  himself  a  parlorful  of  people,  and  asked 
this  question:   "  What    is    it    specially    distin- 
guishes  man   from   the   brute?  "     There  were 
many  answers,  but  his  own  was  the   only  one 
he  liked:     "  Progressive  desire.      Like    Oliver 
Twist,  man  is    always   crying  for   more."     By 
virtue  of  this  law,  man,  when   associated  as  a 
railroad,  continually  reaches  out  for  more,  more 
railroad,  more  power.      The  locomotive  is  the 
representative  of  our  age.      Concentrated  in  it 
are    all    the    tendencies    of  our  civilization    in 
their  intensest  culmination.      It  stands  for  the 
millionaire    and    the    tramp,    the    overworked 
■'  hand,"  and  the  laborer  displaced  by  machin- 
ery, the  corporation  dominating  the  state,  the 
idolatry  of  the  god  of  our  day  —  the  bargain. 
Steam  and  machinery  reach  their  climax  in  the 
locomotive.      The  commercial  fanaticism  of  the 
right  to  do  what  one    wills  with   his   own,  and 

(215) 


2l6  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

to  buy  i\nd  sell  anything,  has  found  in  the  lo- 
comotive the    potent    instrument  which    rides 
over  all  the  rights  of  the  people   in  highways, 
businesses,  courts  and  government,  and  drowns 
all   protest   with    its   screaming   doctrine,  that 
public   roads    are   private   property,   and  that 
private    property   is    the    government    of    the 
many  by  the  few,  "  of  divine  right,"  and  not 
to  be  questioned.      This  control   of  the  high- 
ways tends  to  become  the  control  of  the  coun- 
try dependent  on   the   highway,  and  of  all  the 
men  and  things  therein.      The   framers  of  the 
last  constitution  of  Pennsylvania,  knowing  this, 
sought  to  counteract  this   dangerous  tendency 
in  the  field  where  it  was  foreseen  it  might  pro- 
duce its  most  calamitous  effects,  by  forbidding 
any    railroad   to   own  or  operate    coal    mines. 
But,  as   they    at   the    same  time    neglected  to 
make  it  impossible  for  the  railroads  to  become 
the    owners    of   the    courts    and    legislatures, 
through   which  this  prohibition  was  to  be  en- 
forced, the  wise  foresight  was  of  no  aval].     The 
sole  effect  of  this  provision    of  the  constitution 
has  been  that  the  railroads  became  the  ovi'ners 
in  fee  simple  (very  simple)  of  the   government 
of  the  state,  as  well   as   of  the  forbidden   coal 
fields.     To-day  a  few  law-breaking,  anarchy- 
practicing   railroad    giants,   w^ith    a   few   enor- 


FIRST   FRUITS.  21/ 

mously  wealthy  individuals  bound  to  them 
by  invisible  but  .unbreakable  money-belts, 
own  all  the  hard  coal  fields  of  the  great  State 
of  Pennsylvania.  In  the  language  of  the  con- 
gressional report  on  the  labor  troubles  in 
Pennsylvania,  in  1888,  "seven  coal-carrying 
railroads,  which  are  at  the  same  time  coal 
miners,  may  be  said  to  own  or  control  all  the 
anthracite  of  the  United  States." 

The  report  further  says  :  "  During  the  first 
forty  years  the  mines  were  worked  by  individ- 
uals, just  as  are  farms.  The  hundreds  of  em- 
ployers were  in  active  competition  with  each 
other  for  labor.  The  fundamental  law  of  sup- 
ply and  demand  alike  governed  all  parties. 
As  to  engagement,  employer  and  employe 
stood  upon  a  common  level  of  equality  and 
manhood.  Skill  and  industry  upon  the  part 
of  the  miner  assured  to  him  steady  work,  fair 
wages,  honest  measurement,  and  humane 
treatment.  Should  these  be  denied  by  one 
employer,  many  other  employers  were  ready  to 
give  them.  The  miner  had  the  same  freedom 
as  to  engagement,  the  same  reward  for  faithful 
service  and  .protection  against  injustice,  that 
the  farm  hand  possesses  because  of  the  com- 
petition  between  farmers  employing  hands. 
With  the  development  of  the  railroad  system 


21 8  A    STRIKE    OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

and  its  peculiar  methods,  the  huv  of  competi- 
tion was  steadily  restrained,  and  finally  sus- 
pended. To-day  seven  great  carrying  com- 
panies are  the  real  operators  in  the  whole 
region,  and  have  either  driven  out  the  many 
individual  operators  or  else  absolutely  control 
the  few  that  remain.  This  virtual  combination 
of  all  employers  into  one  syndicate  has  prac- 
tically abolished  competition  between  them  as 
to  wages,  and  gradually  but  inexorably  the 
workmen  have  found  themselves  encoiled  as 
by  an  anaconda,  until  now  they  are  power- 
less. 

The  law  of  "  progressive  desire,"  which 
drives  the  railroads  to  become  the  owners  of 
tonnage  as  well  as  the  movers  of  it,  has  been 
stronger  than  the  law  of  the  land.  This  law, 
that  the  ownership  of  the  highways  grows 
steadily  into  the  ownership  of  the  country 
dependent  on  the  highways,  is  to-day  to  be 
seen  in  as  active  operation  in  the  West  as  in 
the  East.  Nothing  produces  so  much  freight 
to  the  acre  as  a  good  coal  mine;  no  other 
source  of  freight  is  so  concentrated,  and  so 
easy  to  control  as  coal  land.  No  single  item 
.  of  expense  in  railroading  is  greater  than  the 
supply  of  coal.  No  other  kind  of  commodity 
is  so  certain  always  to  demand  distribution  by 


FIRST   FRUITS.  2ig 

the  railroads  as  coal.      It  is  possible  to  conceive 
of  each  locality  in  the  West  turnini^   in   upon 
itself  for  the   suppl}^  of  its   food;    but  coal   is 
found  only  in  spots,  and  the   business  of  dis- 
tributing it  is  one  railroad  men  know  the  world 
will  not  outgrow.      Hence  the  leading  railroads 
in  the  West  some  years  ago  began  to  imitate 
the  policy  so  successful  in  Pennsylvania,  despite 
the  law  —  the  policy  of  becoming  the  owners 
of  their  own  coal  mines.      In  this  way  they  get 
at  cost  the  enormous  amounts  of  coal  they  use 
themselves,  and  secure  on  most,  if  not  all,  the 
coal  used  by  their   "  provinces,"    the   several 
profits  of  mining,  carrying  and  selling.      The 
Northern    Pacific     owns    coal     mines    on    the 
Pacific  coast;   the  Union  Pacific,  those  at  Rock 
Spring,    Wyoming;   the    Central    Pacific    and 
Southern  Pacific  are  supplied  by  their  mines. 
The  Atchison,  Topeka  &  Santa  Fe  gets  coal 
for  itself  and  its  provinces  from  its  own  mines 
at    Trinidad,     Colo.;    Pittsburg,     Kan.,     and 
other     points.      The     Braceville,      111.,     coal 
mines   are   the   adjunct   of  the   Chicago,   Mil- 
waukee &  St.  Paul.      If  the  Chicago,  Burling- 
ton &  Quincy  did  not  own  its  own  coal  mines, 
it  boughtsome  of  its  supplies  from  mines  owned 
by    leading    stockholders.      Similar    arrange- 
ments have  been  made  by  the  Illinois  Central, 


220  A   STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

the  Chicago  &  Alton,  the  Chicago  &  Rock 
Island,  the  Wabash;  by  the  Chicago  &  North- 
Western  at  other  points  —  as  in  Iowa  —  than 
at  Spring  Valley,  and  by  other  railroads. 

It  would  require  a  more  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  the  inner  mysteries  of  the  great 
railroads  than  outsiders  usually  have,  to  be 
able  to  say  with  certainty  in  what  cases  coal 
mines  are  really  owned  by  the  corporations  in 
connection  with  which  they  are  operated. 
Sometimes  they  are  owned  by  "  rings  "  of  the 
managers,  who  thereby  acquire  the  pleasing 
and  profitable  power  —  nothing  could  ever 
give  them  the  right  —  of  buying  as  officials  of 
che  railroad,  from  themselves  as  individuals. 
This  works  to  the  great  advantage  of  the  in- 
dividual, who  has  great  luck  in  getting  good 
bargains  out  of  the  official.  We  see  here,  no 
doubt,  one  of  the  reasons  why  all  our  great 
business  geniuses  make  such  point  of  the 
sacredness  of  "individual  enterprise."  The 
mines  from  which  the  Missouri  Pacific  and  its 
allied  roads  draw  their  fuel  and  coal  freight 
are  understood  to  be  largely  the  property  of 
the  distinguished  professor  of  the  science  of 
"  individual  enterprise,"  who  has  been  in  con- 
trol for  many  years  of  that  main  highway  of 
the  Southwest.      The  "evolution  "  —  to  give  a 


FIRST    FRUITS.  •         221 

respectable  name  to  the  proceedings  of  so 
highly  respectable  men  —  which  has  made  the 
property  of  the  many  the  property  of  the  few, 
and  has  converted  yeomen  into  miners,  and 
miners  into  slaves  in  the  hard-coal  fields,  is 
already  well  under  way  in  the  soft-coal  dis- 
tricts. Good  society  meets  the  poor  reformer 
with  the  angry  charge  that  he  means  to 
divide  up  property,  but  it  winks  complacently 
upon  the  commercial  monsters  who  are 
visibly  dividing  the  property  of  their  neigh- 
bors and  competitors  among  themselves.  All 
the  evil  features  of  the  destruction  of  private 
property  and  personal  liberty  in  Pennsylvania 
are  being  repeated  in  the  coal  regions  of  the 
West,  as  illustrated  in  the  rapid  monopoliza- 
tion of  the  vast  coal  deposits  by  comparatively 
a  few  men  controlling  rates  of  transportation, 
and  by  the  misery  and  degradation  forced 
upon  whole  communities  like  yours  of  Spring 
Valley,  and  like  Brazil,  Braidwood,  the  Hock- 
ing Valley,  and  other  places. 

In  this  first  short  half-century  the  enthusi- 
asts for  improved  transportation  who  so 
humbly  begged  the  State  for  charters  to  per- 
mit them  to  take  away  other  men's  land  with- 
out their  consent,  for  little  experimental  rail- 
roads, and  who  so  thankfully  solicited  and  re- 


222         *   A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

ceived  every  gift   of  bonds,  lands,  money  or 
"  county  aid,"  have  grown  to  be  these  giants, 
getting    from    the     strong    meat    of    highway 
monopoly  the   strength  to  reach  out  for  land 
monopoly  and  market  monopoly.      If  these  are 
the  fruits  of  the  first  fifty  years,  what  will  be 
those  of  the  next  fifty  years?     If  these  are  the 
winnings  of  the   inaugural  era  which  has  seen 
only  the  consolidations  of  local  lines  into  trunk 
lines,  what  will  be  the  winnings  of  the  period 
already  begun,  which  will  be  signalized  by  the 
union  of  the  trunk  lines  into  one  or  two  great 
railway  trusts,  operated  by  private  citizens  for 
private   profit,   claiming   the   highways   of  the 
nation  as  private  property,  and  using  this  pri- 
vate property  as  the  jimmy  with  which  to  get 
possession  of  all  other  property? 

If  the  fuel  famines  of  Kansas  and  Dakota,  if 
the  extortions  of  the  coal  rings  and  trusts  of 
Chicago  and  Pennsylvania,  if  the  ruin  of  Spring 
Valley,  if  the  pitiable  poverty  of  the  miners  of 
Pennsylvania,  if  the  extermination  of  the  indi- 
vidual coal-mine  owners  of  Pennsylvania  and 
Illinois,  and  the  "  division  of  property"  taken 
from  them,  among  their  powerful  destroyers, 
if  these  denials  of  the  "  sacred  right  to  work  " 
and  of  "  private  property"  are  the  fruits  of 
these    first  years,  when  these  properties    and 


FIRST   FRUITS.  223 

privileges  are  still  managed  by  men  who  have 
sprung  from  the  people,  what  will  the  fruits  be 
in  the  second  and  third  generations,  when  all 
this  power  has  passed  into  the  hands  of  those 
who,  by  experience,  education  and  habits  of 
life  belong  to  another  world  than  the  com- 
monalty, and  who  have  acquired  a  taste  for 
powers  and  luxury  that  must  be  satisfied  by 
greater  and  greater  levies  on  the  people?  If 
these  are  the  fruits  of  the  grasping  of  coal 
mines  by  the  owners  of  the  highways,  and  the 
Napoleons  of  commercial  conquest,  what  will 
be  the  fruits  of  their  ownership  of  the  other 
mines,  the  forests,  and  the  factories,  and  farms, 
all  of  which  must  in  time  be  surrendered  to 
the  "  progressive  desire  "  of  the  lords  of  in- 
dustry? 


CHAPTER  XV. 

PART    OF   THE    MORAL. 

Men  do  not  lose  nor  lessen  their  personal 
responsibility  by  acting  through  a  corporation, 
or  an  agent,  or  by  an}'  other  indirection.  The 
growing  shrewdness  of  the  public  will  onl)'  lay 
a  surer  and  heavier  hand  on  those  who  smite 
their  brothers  from  behind  that  ancient  and 
uncanny  creature  —  the  corporate  person  — 
and  then  claim  immunity  for  their  souls  and 
bodies,  because  their  dummy  has  no  body  to 
be  kicked,  and  no  soul  to  be  damned.  Of  the 
two  leading  authorities  on  the  law  of  Ameri- 
can corporations,  Taylor  says:* 

"  It  is  the  opinion  of  the  writer  that  the  fic- 
tion of  the  '  legal  person'  has  outlived  its  use- 
fulness, and  is  no  longer  adequate  for  the  pur- 
poses of  an  accurate  treatment  of  the  legal 
relationst  arising  through  the  prosecution  of  a 
corporate  enterprise.      By  dismissing   this  fic- 

^  Preface  to  "  Law  of  Private  Corporations,"  by  H.  O.  Taylor.     Phila- 
delphia:   Kay  &  Piros.,  1884. 
t   Or  moral  or  economic. 

(224) 


PAFT   OF   THE    MORAL.  2^5 

tion  a  clearer  view  may  be  had  of  the  actual 
human  beings  interested,  whose  rights  may- 
then  be  determined  without  unnecessary  mysti- 
fication; "   and   Morawetz  says;* 

"  The  existence  of  a  corporation  as  an  entity 
independently  of  its  members  is  a  fiction; 
*  *  *  while   the   fiction  of  a  corpo- 

rate entity  has  important  uses  and  cannot  be 
dispensed  with,  it  is  nevertheless  essential  to 
bear  in  mind  distinctly  that  the  rights  and 
duties  of  an  incorporated  association  are  in 
reality  the  rights  and  duties  of  the  persons 
who  compose  it,  and  not  of  an  imaginary 
being. " 

What  men  do  in  managing  enterprises  char- 
tered by  the  public  is  not  "  their  private  busi- 
ness." In  such  affairs  they  are  public  func- 
tionaries doing  the  business  of  the  public. 

Such  men  as  public  functionaries  are  as  law- 
fully and  inevitably  to  be  called  before  the 
people  by  name  for  the  public  discussion  and 
criticism  of  their  acts  as  any  other  public  serv- 
ants. "  For,  although,"  says  Ruskin,  "  many 
of  my  discreet  friends  cry  out  upon  me  for 
allowing  '  personalities,'  it  is  my  firm  convic- 
tion that  only  by  justly  personal    direction   of 


*  "Law    of    Private  Corporations,"  by  Victor    Morawetz.       Boston: 
Little,  Brown  &  Co.,  1886. 

IS 


226  A    STRIKE   OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

blame  can  any  abuse  be  vigorously  dealt 
with." 

He  who  acquires  profits  or  property  is 
responsible  for  all  the  means  that  produced 
them.      lo-norance  of  this  law  excuses  no  man. 

Step  by  step  the  "  Model  Merchant  "  has 
pushed  his  right  to  buy  cheap  and  sell  dear  far 
beyond  the  necessary  limitations  of  law,  econ- 
omy, morals  and  humanity. 

Modern  business  under  the  leadership  of  the 
Captains  of  Industry  has  developed  into  an 
unnatural  fanaticism  of  greed,  producing  a 
seditious  wealth  and  a  morbid  poverty. 

Under  the  inspiration  of  this  fanaticism,  men 
irreproachable  in  other  relations  of  life  proclairr) 
and  practice  their  right  to  consume  the  liveli- 
hood, the  liberties  and  even  the  lives  of  their 
fellow-citizens  in  order  to  multiply  superflui- 
ties of  power  and  luxury  for  themselves. 

These  fanatics  of  business  —  few  but  su- 
preme—  set  a  pace  which  is  leading  our  busi- 
ness civilization  to  destruction. 

That  the -sort  of  thing  you  have  done  at 
Spring  Valley,  and  others  like  you  have  done 
in  the  valleys  of  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana, 
and  elsewhere,  will  be  made  conspiracy  by 
law  if  necessary,  is  certain  as  soon  as  the 
public  get  to  grasp  the  motive  and  the  result 


PART    OF   THE   MORAL.  227 

of  such  concerted  attacks  upon  the  lives  and 
hberties  of  the  people.  It  will  be  in  vain  that 
you  who  own  and  manage  the  North-Western 
Railroad  will  repel  with  indignation  and  amaze- 
ment the  charge  that  you  are  in  any  way 
responsible.  You  did  not  know  what  was 
being  done?  You  have  accepted  and  continue 
ready  to  accept  its  result.  You  only  built  a 
railroad  to  a  coal  field,  as  any  one  might  do, 
and  are  not  responsible  for  any  wrong  com- 
mitted in  the  production  of  the  coal  of  whicli 
you  were  only  the  carrier?  Your  position  is  in- 
finitely worse  than  that.  Owners  and  man- 
agers with  you  in  the  railroad  were  owners 
and  managers  of  the  coal  company  and  land 
company,  and  your  acts  disclose  a  concert  of 
action  with  a  common  purpose  in  the  co-op- 
perated  management  of  those  properties.  The 
question  of  conspiracy  is  a  question  of  circum- 
stantial evidence,  and  of  the  public  judgment 
of  the  evidence  to  be  expressed,  it  is  to  be 
hoped,  some  day  by  a  jury,  in  the  "  good  old 
times  "  that  are  coming,  when  the  public  wits 
will  have  developed  to  the  point  of  taking 
away  from  the  poor  and  lowly  their  present 
monopoly  of  conspiracy.  The  building  of  the 
road  and  the  booming  of  the  town  went  on 
together  under  the  direction  of  a  mutual  ele- 


226  A   STRIKE   OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

blame  can  any  abuse  be  vigorously  dealt 
with." 

He  who  acquires  profits  or  property  is 
responsible  for  all  the  means  that  produced 
them.      Ignorance  of  this  law  excuses  no  man. 

Step  by  step  the  "  Model  Merchant "  has 
pushed  his  right  to  buy  cheap  and  sell  dear  far 
beyond  the  necessary  limitations  of  law,  econ- 
omy, morals  and  humanity. 

Modern  business  under  the  leadership  of  the 
Captains  of  Industry  has  developed  into  an 
unnatural  fanaticism  of  greed,  producing  a 
seditious  wealth  and  a  morbid  poverty. 

Under  the  inspiration  of  this  fanaticism,  men 
irreproachable  in  other  relations  of  life  proclain] 
and  practice  their  right  to  consume  the  liveli- 
hood, the  liberties  and  even  the  lives  of  their 
fellow-citizens  in  order  to  multiply  superflui- 
ties of  power  and  luxury  for  themselves. 

These  fanatics  of  business  —  few  but  su- 
preme—  set  a  pace  which  is  leading  our  busi- 
ness civilization  to  destruction. 

That  the -sort  of  thing  you  have  done  at 
Spring  Valley,  and  others  like  you  have  done 
in  the  valleys  of  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana, 
and  elsewhere,  will  be  made  conspiracy  by 
law  if  necessary,  is  certain  as  soon  as  the 
public  get  to  grasp  the  motive  and  the  result 


PART   OF    THE    MORAL.  22'J 

of  such  concerted  attacks  upon  the  lives  and 
liberties  of  the  people.  It  will  be  in  vain  that 
you  who  own  and  manage  the  North-Western 
Railroad  will  repel  with  indignation  and  amaze- 
ment the  charge  that  you  are  in  any  way 
responsible.  You  did  not  know  what  was 
being  done?  You  have  accepted  and  continue 
ready  to  accept  its  result.  You  only  built  a 
railroad  to  a  coal  field,  as  any  one  might  do, 
and  are  not  responsible  for  any  wrong  com- 
mitted in  the  production  of  the  coal  of  which 
you  were  only  the  carrier?  Your  position  is  in- 
finitely worse  than  that.  Owners  and  man- 
agers with  you  in  the  railroad  were  owners 
and  managers  of  the  coal  company  and  land 
company,  and  your  acts  disclose  a  concert  of 
action  with  a  common  purpose  in  the  co-op- 
peratcd  management  of  those  properties.  The 
question  of  conspiracy  is  a  question  of  circum- 
stantial evidence,  and  of  the  public  judgment 
of  the  evidence  to  be  expressed,  it  is  to  be 
hoped,  some  day  by  a  jury,  in  the  "  good  old 
times  "  that  are  coming,  when  the  public  wits 
will  have  developed  to  the  point  of  taking 
away  from  the  poor  and  lowly  their  present 
monopoly  of  conspiracy.  The  building  of  the 
road  and  the  booming  of  the  town  went  on 
together  under  the   direction   of  a  mutual  ele- 


228  A   STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

ment  in  both  companies.  When  the  dooming 
of  the  town  began,  you  of  the  raih'oad  sub- 
mitted "to  it  and  to  the  loss  of  heavy  traffic 
receipts,  when  by  a  word  you  could  have  com- 
pelled your  other  selves  of  the  coal  company 
to  have  continued  the  mining  and  supply  of 
coal.  Now  that  the  people  have  been  starved 
into  surrender,  you  have  put  on  your  trains 
again  and  use  the  coal  again.  You  will  boast 
again  in  your  annual  report,  as  you  have  done, 
of  the  progressive  cheapness  per  ton  of  your 
coal— $2.28  a  ton  in  1885,  $1.96  in  1886, 
$1.75  in  1887,  and  perhaps  $1.50  this  year  — 
a  progressive  cheapness  every  downward  cent 
in  which  represents  scores  of  broken  lives. 
The  railroad  has  made  prices  on  Spring  Valley 
coal  at  competitive  points  which  indicate  re- 
bates on  its  transportation.  High  officials  of 
the  freight  department  of  the  road  have 
appeared  in  person  at  the  public  tender  of 
bids  for  the  supply  of  Spring  Valley  coal  to 
public  institutions  in  competition  with  other 
coals.  This  cumulation  of  evidence  tells  its 
own  story.  Nor  can  you  of  the  coal  company 
protect  yourselves  by  the  plea  that  competi- 
tion forced  you  to  do  what  you  did.  The 
facts  given  above  about  the  wages  paid  by 
your  competitors,  and  your  own  latest  offers,. 


PART   OF   THE    MORAL.  229 

take  that  ground  from  under  you.  But  waiv- 
ing all  that,  you  have  no  right  to  create  such 
competition,  and  then  plead  it  as  an  excuse  for 
other  wrongs. 

If  you  continue  your  war  on  the  miners,  if 
you  pocket  the  profits  that  success  will  bring 
you,  the  public  will  sooner  or  later  declare  to 
all  of  you  that  you  have  vitiated  your  title  to 
your  rights  and  properties  at  their  very 
roots.  Political  economy  gives  you  private 
property  only  that  the  interest  of  all  may 
be  served  by  your  self-interest ;  the  law  gives 
you  your  franchises  and  estates  only  for  the 
general  welfare  and  the  public  safety;  relig- 
ion holds  you  to  be  only  stewards  of  your 
riches.  If  you  usurp  for  your  private  profit 
all  these  trusts  and  grants,  if  you  withdraw 
yourself  from  serving  and  protecting  the 
public  and  take  to  oppressing  and  plundering 
them  from  your  points  of  advantage,  you  will 
but  repeat  the  folly  of  your  mediaeval  exem- 
plars whose  castles  now  decorate  a  better 
civilization  with  their  prophetic  ruins. 


APPENDIX. 

STATEMENT  TO  THE  PUBLIC  BY  THE  COAL 
COMPANY,  AND  REPLIES  BY  THE  MINERS  AND 
THE  PRESS. 

The  first  and  last  statement  to  the  public  by 
the  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company  after  the 
lock-out  of  December  and  May,  was  in  the 
following  letter  to  Governor  Fifer.  It  was 
made  to  justify  the  offer  of  August  23d  of  os- 
tensibly 75,  really  35  cents  a  ton. 

Hon.  Joseph  IV.  Fifer,  Gover^ior  of  the  State  of  Illinois. 

Sir— The  undersigned,  in  behalf  of  himself  and  those  con- 
nected witli  him  in  the  ownership  and  control  of  the  Spring 
Valley  Coal  Company,  respectfully  submits  to  you,  and  through 
you  to  the  public,  the  following  statement  of  facts,  which  can 
be  verified  and  confirmed  by  evidence  and  figures  which  we  ask 
you  and  the  public  to  impartially  consider  in  refutation  of  the 
uncalled-for  and  unjust  abuse  which  the  managers  of  the  com- 
pany's property  have  been  subjected  to. 

The  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company  was  organized  under  the 
laws  of  the  State  of  Illinois  in  the  year  1884  to  develop  a  coal 
territory  north  of  the  Illinois  River,  about  lOO  miles  southwest 
of  Chicago,  which  field  embraces  about  40,000  acres.  Within 
this  territory,  in  1884,  there  were  two  small  mines  in  operation, 
supjilying  the  local  demands  of  the  neighborhood,  the  total  out- 
put of  these  mines  not  then  exceeding  500  tons  per  day.     As  to 

(230) 


APPENDIX.  231 

the  value  of  this  coal  field  I  can  submit  no  better  evidence  than 
the  fact  that  no  coal  operator  in  your  State  was  willing  to  risk 
hip  money  in  its  development  and  improvement,  or  considered  it 
of  sufficient  value  to  invest  one  dollar  in  it.  Neither  myself  nor 
my  associates  supposed,  when  we  concluded  to  try  and  utilize 
this  coal  property  and  develop  it,  that  we  were  committing  any 
crime.  We  supposed,  that,  so  long  as  we  conformed  to  the  laws 
of  the  State  of  Illinois  and  obeyed  them,  we  would  be  protected 
in  our  lawful  rights,  including  the  right  of  controlling  our 
property  to  the  extent  that  other  corporations  and  citizens 
of  your  State  enjoy.  We  asked  for  nothing  more;  we  are  en- 
titled to  nothing  less.  In  this  supposition  we  have  found  our- 
selves sadly  mistaken.  Venal  and  partisan  newspapers,  as  well 
as  politicians,  desiring  to  serve  political  ends,  together  with 
a  few  honest  and  charitable  citizens  and  misguided  clergymen, 
have,  without  the  necessary  facts  or  knowledge  to  enable  them  to 
form  a  correct  opinion,  heaped  upon  this  company  and  its  offi- 
cers, through  the  press,  an  amount  of  falsehood  and  slander 
that  is  perhaps  without  parallel  in  the  industrial  history  of  this 
country. 

The  development  of  the  Spring  Valley  coal  field  was  not  en- 
gaged in  for  speculative  purposes.  All  we  could  hope  for  was 
a  very  moderate  return  on  the  capital  invested.  The  Spring 
Valley  Coal  Company  purchased  the  coal  rights  and  lands  in  fee 
now  owned  by  it  located  in  the  counties  of  Bureau,  La  Salle, 
and  Putnam,  paying  to  the  farmers  of  those  counties  something 
over  $650,000  for  the  same,  and  of  this  sum  $350,000  to  $400,- 
000  was  utilized  by  them  in  removing  mortgages  from  the  land, 
the  surface  of  which  they  retained.  The  company  up  to  date 
has  further  expended  a  large  amount  of  money  in  improving  and 
developing  the  property,  and  to-day  our  mines  have  the  capacity 
to  produce  over  4,000  tons  of  coal  per  day,  when  in  operation  — 
a  capacity  exceeding  that  of  any  other  mines  in  the  world  worked 
under  the  long-wall  system.  You  can  readily  understand,  sir, 
that  a  property  capable  of  producing  from  1,000,000  to  1,500,- 
000  tons  of  coal  per  annum  could  not  expect  to  find  a  market 
for  its  coal  locally,  situated  as  the  Spring  Valley  Coal  Comjiany 


232  A    STRIKE    OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

is,  but  from  necessity  would  have  to  look  to  tlie  States  and  Ter- 
ritories of  the  North  and  Northwest  to  market  its  product.  The 
ability  of  the  company  to  operate  its  mines,  to  give  steady  em- 
ployment to  its  men,  and  to  sell  its  coal,  is  contingent  upon  two 
factors  —  first,  the  cost  of  mining  at  Spring  Valley,  as  compared 
with  the  cost  at  the  mines  in  the  other  Illinois  coal  fields  with 
which  we  come  in  competition;  second,  the  cost  of  railroad 
transportation  from  Spring  Valley  to  competitive  markets  as 
compared  with  the  cost  of  transportation  fiom  mines  in  the 
other  fields  to  the  same  markets.  The  coal  fields  with  which 
the  Spring  Valley  Company  has  to  compete  virtually  embrace 
the  entire  coal  area  of  the  State  of  Illinois  south  of  the  Illinois 
River  at  Spring  Valley,  and  extending  to  within  forty-five  miles 
of  St.  Louis.  Within  this  field  are  located  what  are  known  as 
the  Streator,  Braidwood,  and  Wilmington  districts,  constituting 
a  part  of  what  are  known  as  tlie  northern  Illinois  coal  field. 
Taking  Streator  as  the  center  of  this  group  of  mines  in  the 
northern  field,  and  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  as  a  market  for  Illinois 
coal,  the  relative  distance  from  Spring  Valley  to  St.  Paul  is 
twenty  miles  less  than  from  Streator.  As  you  go  south  and 
southwest  on  the  lines  of  the  railroads  from  Chicago,  extending 
into  what  are  known  as  the  central  and  southern  coal  fields  of 
Illinois,  there  are  numerous  mines  producing  and  shipping  coal 
into  the  Chicago  market  and  the  markets  of  the  Northwest;  and, 
if  we  take  Essex,  on  the  line  of  the  Wabash  road,  \\hich  is  the 
transfer  point  of  coal  from  these  central  and  southern  fields,  and 
Chicago  and  St.  Paul  as  competitive  markets,  we  find  the  dis- 
tance from  Spring  Valley  to  Chicago  is  loi  miles,  and  to  St. 
Paul,  by  the  shortest  route,  420  miles,  as  against  60  miles  from 
Essex  to  Chicago  and  470  miles  from  Essex  to  St,  Paul. 

Under  an  arrangement  between  the  railroads  of  your  State, 
centering  in  Chicago  and  extending  into  the  North  and  North- 
west, within  which  territory  the  northern  Illinois  coal  mines 
are  solely  dependent  for  a  market  for  their  product,  the  follow- 
ing system  and  rates  of  transportation  have  been  adopted  and 
are  to-day  in  force  :  A  zone  or  territory  embracing  certain  coal 
fields  in  northern,  central,  and  southern  Illinois  lifts  been  estab- 


APPENDIX.  233 

lished,  and  the  rates  of  railroad  transportation  upon  coal  from 
all  mines  within  this  zone,  passing  through  and  going  beyond 
Chicago  by  rail  lines  from  Chicago,  are  uniform,  irrespective  of 
the  distance  the  coal  is  transported  from  points  within  this  zone 
to  Chicago.  The  limits  of  this  zone  are  as  follows :  Starting 
from  the  city  of  Chicago  due  west  to  Clinton,  Iowa,  thence  fol- 
lowing the  Mississippi  River  as  far  south  as  Burlington  ;  thence 
in  a  southeasterly  direction,  passing  through  Bushnelland  Ver- 
mont ;  thence  in  a  northeasterly  direction  through  Peoria, 
Lacon,  Minonk,  and  Essex  to  Chicago  ;  embracing  all  the 
mines  and  coal  deposits  within  the  territory  described.  The 
southern  limit  of  this  zone  or  belt  is  Vermont,  distant  from 
Chicago  211  miles,  and  from  St.  Paul,  via  Chicago,  621  miles 
by  the  shortest  rail  route  ;  as  compared  from  Spring  Valley  to 
Chicago,  loi  miles,  and  St.  Paul  420  miles.  But,  perhaps, 
Peoria  is  a  better  illustration,  for  the  reason  that  larger  ship- 
ments of  competitive  coal  are  sold  in  the  Chicago  market  and 
markets  of  the  Northwest  from  the  mines  in  that  vicinity.  The 
price  of  mining  in  the  Peoria  mines  last  year  was  sixty  cents  a 
ton,  as  against  ninety  cents  paid  at  Spring  Valley.  The  dis- 
tance from  Peoria  to  Chicago  is  161  miles,  and  from  Peoria  to 
St.  Paul,  via  Chicago,  571  miles.  Now,  a  ton  of  coal  shipped 
from  Peoria  to  St.  Paul,  via  Chicago,  a  distance  of  571  miles, 
pays  only  the  same  rate  per  ton  for  transportation  that  a  ton  of 
Spring  Valley  coal  pays  for  420  miles,  with  a  difference  of  over 
thirty-five  cents  per  ton  in  cost  of  mining  in  favor  of  Peoria. 

To  further  illustrate  the  inequalities  of  railroad  transporta- 
tion affecting  the  operation  of  the  fields  of  northern  Illinois,  we 
would  refer  to  the  Consolidated  Coal  Company's  mines,  op- 
erated within  fifty-four  miles  ot  St.  Louis,  with  a  claimed  pro- 
duction of  10,000  tons  per  day.  The  actual  amount  paid  for 
the  transportation  of  a  ton  of  coal  by  the  Consolidated  Coal 
Company  from  their  mines  to  St.  Paul  is  $2.40,  as  against  $2 
from  Spring  Valley  to  St.  Paul ;  but  the  distance  froni  the  Con- 
solidated mines  to  St.  Paul  is  636  miles,  while  from  Spring  Val- 
ley to  St.  Paul  it  is  420  miles,  and  an  equivalent  rate  for  a  ton 
of  coal  from  Spring  Valley  to  St.  Paul  would  be  $1.58  per  ton, 


234  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

as  against  the  $2.40  paid  on  a  ton  of  coal  from  the  Consoli- 
dated'mines,  or  a  discrimination  against  Spring  Valley,  on  the 
distance  relatively  transported,  of  forty-two  cents  per  ton  ;  and 
the  price  paid  for  mining  a  ton  of  coal  at  the  Consolidated 
mines  is  forty-five  cents,  as  against  ninety  cents  a  ton  paid  at 
Spring  Valley.  This  coal  to-day  is  sold  in  the  city  of  Chicago 
for  $1.65  per  ton,  and  is  sold  at  Essex  for  $1.25  per  ton. 

Now  as  to  the  relative  cost  of  mining  a  ton  of  coal  at  Spring 
Valley  as  compared  with  the  cost  of  mining  at  other  mines  in 
the  northern  field,  and  with  the  fields  of  central  and  southern 
Illinois  :  Since  the  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company  has  been  in 
operation  the  price  paid  the  miners  for  mining  a  ton  of  coal  has 
been  uniformly  90  cents  per  ton,  with  sixteen  inches  of  brush- 
ing, as  against  an  average  price  of  80  cents  a  ton  paid  for  mining 
a  ton  of  coal  in  the  other  mines  of  the  northern  coal  field,  as 
against  60  cents  and  as  low  as  45  cents  a  ton  paid  for  mining 
in  the  central  and  southern  C(>al  fields. 

(As  the  general  public  may  not  understand  the  meaning  of 
the  term  "  brushing  "  used  in  this  letter,  I  would  state  that  it 
refers  to  the  refuse  rock  or  other  material  overlying  or  under- 
lying the  vein  of  coal,  and  where  a  vein  of  coal  is  not  of  suffi- 
cient thickness,  when  mined,  to  leave  a  perpendicular  space 
high  enough  to  permit  a  pit  car  to  reach  the  face  of  the  vein, 
of  sufficient  capacity  to  haul  a  maximum  load  of  coal  to  the 
bottom  of  the  shaft,  this  material  either  overlying  or  underly- 
ing the  vein  of  coal  has  to  be  removed  to  secure  the  necessary 
height,  and  this  refuse  necessary  to  be  removed  is  what  is 
technically  known  as  "  brushing.") 

There  has  been  no  jieriod  during  the  foin-  years  which  we 
have  operated  the  Spring  Valley  mines  that  we  could  not  pur- 
chase, and,  in  fact,  we  have  purchased,  coal  from  other  mines 
in  the  northern  field  at  from  12  cents  to  17^  cents  per  ton  less 
than  the  actual  cost  of  producing  the  coal  at  our  own  property  ; 
and,  as  the  rates  of  transportation  from  these  fields  from  Chi- 
cago and  St.  Paul  were  the  same  that  our  company  had  to  jiay, 
I  think  you  will  agree  with  me  that  we  could  hardly  expect  to 
be  able  to  maintain  ourselves  in  a  competitive  market.      I)Ut  we 


APPENDIX.  235 

have  gone  on  hoping  for  a  better  condition  of  affairs,  when  we 
would  be  able  to  keep  our  works  going  and  our  men  employed, 
and  we  stopped  work  only  when  the  men  declined  to  meet  us 
to  endeavor  to  agree  upon  a  price  to  be  paid  for  mining  for  the 
present  year,  and  when  we  found  that  it  was  an  utter  impossi- 
bility for  us  to  continue  operations  without  virtually  bankrupt- 
ing our  company.  The  mild  winter  of  1888-89  so  affected  the 
demand  for  coal  that  in  December  we  were  compelled  to  shut 
down  two  of  our  mines,  as  there  was  no  market  for  the  coal  ; 
and  for  reasons  hereafter  explained,  we  were  compelled  to  shut 
down  the  remainder  of  the  mines  May  ist,  following. 

About  the  1st  of  April,  and  prior  to  deciding  to  close  the 
mines,  I  was  advised  by  our  superintendent  that  a  committee 
representing  our  miners  desired  to  meet  me  in  Chicago  and  see 
if  some  equitable  basis  of  mining  could  be  agreed  upon  for  the 
then  ensuing  year.  I  was  then  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and 
went  from  there  to  Chicago  in  compliance  with  this  request,  and 
was  there  on  the  day  fixed  by  the  committee.  I  remained  in 
Chicago  two  days,  and  during  that  lime  a  telegraphic  notice 
was  received  from  this  committee  that  they  would  not  come  to 
Chicago.  This  notice  on  their  part  being  equivalent  to  aban- 
doning the  idea  of  having  a  conference,  I  returned  home  and 
ordered  the  works  closed  on  the  following  ist  of  May,  on  which 
date  all  the  other  mines  in  the  northern  field  ceased  to  work,  de- 
manding a  reduction  in  the  price  of  mining. 

We  have  never  asked,  expected,  or  desired  a  miner  working 
in  our  mines  to  mine  coal  for  us  at  one  cent  a  ton  less  than  a 
fair  relative  price  as  compared  with  what  was  paid  in  other 
fields  in  northern  Illinois.  As  every  intelligent  coal  operator 
and  miner  knows,  in  fixing  a  rate  for  mining  coal  there  are  ad- 
vantages and  disadvantages  to  be  found  in  the  same  veins,  even 
in  the  same  field,  which  must  be  taken  into  consideration  in 
arriving  at  what  are  fair  and  practically  equal  prices  to  be  paid 
for  mining  at  the  different  mines  in  such  field.  It  would  be 
clearly  unreasonable  to  expect,  and  unjust  to  ask,  miners  to 
mine  coal  at  Spring  Valley  at  the  same  price  ]5aid  for  mining  in 
the  Braidwood  field  if  it  can  be  shown  that  the  disadvantages 


236  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

at  Spring  Valley  are  greater  than  those  at  Braidwood;  and,  of 
course,  the  foregoing  applies  equally  to  Braidwood  if  the 
conditions  be  reversed. 

There  is  not  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  nor  in  the  United  States, 
a  coal  property  where  men  can  work  with  less  discomfort  and 
greater  safety  to  life  and  limb  than  they  can  in  the  Spring  Val- 
ley mines.  During  the  four  years  that  the  mines  have  been  in 
operation,  not  one  life  has  been  lost.  The  mines  are  practically 
free  from  water,  which  fact  inures  greatly  to  the  comfort,  not 
only  of  the  miner,  but  to  his  ability  to  mine  coal  therein. 

You  are,  sir,  respectfully  asked  to  compare  the  price  paid  for 
mining  at  Spring  Valley  during  the  last  four  years  with  the 
price  paid  at  Braidwood,  at  which  latter  place  the  highest 
nominal  price  per  ton  was  paid  during  this  period  for  mining 
coal  in  the  State  of  Illinois.  The  basis  upon  which  coal  was 
mined  at  Braidwood  was  80  cents  per  ton  for  a  vein  of  coal  2 
feet  10  inches  thick,  and  15  cents  per  ton  additional  for  a  mini- 
mum brushing  of  3  feet  6  inches  and  a  maximum  of  4  feet — the 
contract  between  the  operators  and  miners  at  Braidwood  speci- 
fying 4  feet.  Taking  the  minimum  brushing  as  the  basis,  the 
aggregate  price  was  95  cents  a  ton,  which  covered  the  cost  of 
mining  the  coal  and  brushing  of  42  inches.  Now,  it  must  be 
kept  in  mind  in  making  this  comparison  that  the  relative  con- 
ditions of  mining  the  seams  of  coal  at  Braidwood  and  at  Spring 
Valley  are  practically  the  same,  except  as  to  the  thickness  of 
the  veins ;  and  we  also  claim  for  Spring  Valley  certain  advan- 
tages which  do  not  necessarily  come  into  the  actual  cost  of  pro- 
duction, but  which  are  of  material  advantage  to  the  miner. 
The  percentage  of  slack  and  nut  coal  produced  in  both  veins  is 
the  same.  The  stratum  under  the  veins  is  the  same  —  namely, 
fire-clay.  Both  mines  are  operated  on  the  long-wall  system, 
consequently  the  breaking  down  of  the  coal  in  each  is  the  same. 
The  differences  which  exist  in  the  comparative  working  of  the 
two  veins  are,  first,  the  Spring  Valley  vein  is  entirely  free  from 
water;  second,  it  is  practically  free  from  faults;  third,  the  vein 
lies  on  a  horizontal  plane  that  does  not  vary  from  one  to  three 
feet  in  a  mile  in  the  level  of  the  coal;  fourth,  the   roof  is  per- 


APPENDIX.  237 

fectly  dry  and  of  free  soapstone  rock,  14  feet  thick.  In  the 
Braidwood  district  there  is  a  large  amount  of  water,  and  the 
dip  and  rise  of  the  vein  in  1,000  yards  varies  as  much  as  forty 
feet.  The  roof  at  Braidwood  is  water-soaked,  and  is  much 
more  difficult  to  maintain,  \yhich  work  has  to  be  done  by  the 
men,  and  is  covered  in  the  price  paid  for  mining.  In  some 
placts  the  Braidwood  vein  comes  within  25  feet  of  the  surface, 
while  at  no  point  at  Spring  Valley  is  the  third  vein  within  450 
feet  of  the  surface.  These  comparative  advantages  and  disad- 
vantages in  the  working  of  the  two  veins,  whatever  they  may 
be,  are  largely  in  favor  of  the  Spring  Valley  miner.  During 
the  last  four  years  we  paid  our  men  90  cents  per  ton  for  mining 
coal,  including  16  inches  of  brushing.  We  require  30  inches  of 
brushing  to  enable  us  to  economically  mine  the  coal.  Now,  it 
can  be  readily  understood  that,  if  a  miner  can  jnine  a  ton  of 
coal  at  Braidwood  at  80  cents  a  ton  for  mining,  and  15  cents  a 
ton  for  42  inches  of  brushing  —  all  conditions  being  equal  at 
both  mines,  except  as  to  the  thickness  of  the  veins —  the  relative 
price  at  Spring  Valley  for  16  inches  of  brushing  would  be  85.71 
cents  per  ton,  and  in  this  comparison  we  do  not  take  into  con- 
sideration the  fact  that  our  vein  is  10  inches  thicker  than  the 
vein  at  Braidwood. 

Now,  let  the  cost  of  mining  at  Braidwood  be  compared  with 
what  would  be  the  relative  cost  of  the  same  work  at  Spring 
Valley,  and  what  would  be  an  equivalent  price  to  be  paid  at 
Spring  Valley  as  compared  with  that  paid  at  Braidwood  ? 

An  ordinary  working  place  at  Braidwood  is  42  feet  face,  2 
feet  10  inches  high  (of  coal),  3  feet  deep,  with  three  men  work- 
ing in  the  face.  Now  2  feet  10  inches  of  coal,  42  feet  face,  and 
3  feet  deep,  contains  357  cubic  feet,  and  allowing  80  pounds  of 
coal  to  the  cubic  foot  the  space  would  produce  14  tons  and  560 
pounds  of  coal  at  Braidwood.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  also 
that  the  miners  claim  that  it  is  impracticable  for  them  to  work 
three  men  in  a  working  place  at  Spring  Valley  in  a  space  of  36 
feet  face;  but  three  men  do  work  in  a  working  place  at  Braid- 
wood in  2  feet  10  inches  of  coal,  42  feet  face,  and  there  is  no  ob- 
jection to  it  on  the  part  of  the  men. 


238  A   STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

It  is  as  feasible  and  practicable  to  make  the  working  places 
at  Spring  Valley  42  feet  (we  now  work  there  36)  as  it  is  at 
Braidwood.  If,  therefore,  the  working  places  should  be  in- 
creased six  additional  feet,  to  enable  three  men  to  work  instead 
of  two,  which  can  be  readily  done  at  Spring  Valley,  a  working 
place  at  the  latter  mines  with  the  same  working  face  as  at 
Braidwood  —  namely,  42  feet  face,  3  feet  deep,  and  the  thick- 
ness of  the  vein  being  3  feet  8  inches  —  would  contain  462  cubic 
feet,  and  at  80  pounds  of  coal  per  cubic  foot  would  produce  18 
tons  960  pounds  of  coal;  or  4  tons  and  400  pounds  more  coal 
would  be  produced  in  the  same  space  at  Spring  \'alley  than  at 
Braidwood. 

It  must  be  kept  in  mind,  also,  that  not  one  additional  stroke 
of  a  miner's  arm  is  required  in  connection  with  the  bearing  in 
or  breaking  down  of  this  18  tons  960  pounds  of  coal  at  Spring 
Valley  over  what  it  requires  at  Braidwood  for  14  tons  560 
pounds  within  the  space  given. 

The  foregoing  figures  show  that  three  men  in  a  working  place 
at  Braidwood,  working  in  the  space  heretofore  given,  w^ould 
mine  14  tons  560  pounds  of  coal,  by  which,  at  95  cents  per  ton 
paid  at  Braidwood,  they  would  earn  $13.57,  and  that  for  the 
same  work  at  .Spring  X'alley,  in  the  same  space,  they  woulil 
produce  18  tons  960  pounds,  which,  at  90  cents  a  ton,  the  price 
paid  last  year,  would  amount  to  $16.63,  which  would  be  $3.06 
more  earned  by  the  men  at  Spring  Valley  than  at  Braidwood, 
which  $3.06  would  be  equivalent  to  16.56  cents  per  ton  paid  at 
Spring  Valley  more  than  was  paid  at  Braidwood.  This  excess 
of  earnings  by  the  men  at  Spring  Valley  over  that  of  Braidwood 
would  arise  from  the  fact  of  the  difference  in  the  thickness  of 
vein  mmed  at  Spring  Valley,  namely  3  feet  8  inches  of  coal,  as 
compared  with  2  feet  10  inches  of  coal  at  Braidwood.  Now, 
the  miners  at  Braidwood  removed  42  inches  of  brushing  to  earn 
their  $13.57,  whereas  the  miners  at  Spring  Valley  only  removed 
16  inches  of  brushing  to  earn  their  $16.63.  Now,  as  our  com- 
pany had  to  do  an  additional  14  inches  of  brushing,  and,  if  we 
assume  its  cost  to  have  been  at  the  relative  price  paid  for  brush- 
ing at  Braidwood  —  namely,  15  cents  for  42  inches  of  brushing 


APPENDIX.  239 

—  it  would  be  equivalent  to  5  cents  per  ton  on  each  ton  of  coal 
mined  at  Spring  Valley,  which  should  be  added  to  the  16.56 
cents,  to  secure  30  inches  of  brushing,  making  21.56  cents, 
which  amount  was  actually  paid  the  miners  at  Spring  Valley  in 
excess  of  what  should  have  been  paid  to  equalize  our  mining 
ccst  with  that  of  Braidwood;  and  if  to  this  we  add  the  cost  of 
the  12  inches  additional  brushing  done  at  Braidwood,  more 
than  what  was  required  at  Spring  Valley,  which,  at  the  equiva- 
lent price  paid  at  Braidwood,  amounts  to  4.28  cents  per  ton,  it 
would  make  a  total  equivalent  of  25.84  cents  more  paid  for 
mining  a  ton  of  coal  at  Spring  Valley  in  1888  than  would  have 
been  paid  if  the  price  of  mining  at  Spring  Valley  were  on  an 
equality  with  Braidwood. 

To  present  this  matter  in  another  light:  In  the  working 
places  heretofore  described  at  Braidwood  44.74  per  cent,  of  the 
material  moved  is  coal,  and  55.26  per  cent,  is  material  necessary 
to  be  removed  to  secure  42  inches  of  brushing.  In  the  same 
area  at  Spring  Valley  the  percentage  of  coal  produced  is  59.46 
per  cent,  and  40.54  per  cent,  is  material  removed  to  secure  30 
inches  of  brushing.  It  will,  therefore,  be  seen  that  the  per- 
centage of  coal  produced  at  Spring  Valley  for  the  same  amount 
of  labor  is  14.72  per  cent,  greater  than  at  Braidwood,  and  that 
it  requires  14.72  per  cent,  less  labor  for  brushing  at  Spring 
Valley  than  is  required  at  Braidwood,  and  yet  the  cost  of  mining 
a  ton  of  coal  at  Spring  Valley  last  year  exceeded  the  equivalent 
price  paid  at  Braidwood  by  25.84  cents  per  ton. 

Assuming  that  the  foregoing  statements  as  to  the  compara- 
tive amount  of  labor  required  for  a  miner  to  mine  a  ton  of 
coal  at  Spring  Valley  as  compared  with  Braidwood  are  correct, 
and  then  taking  into  consideration  the  amount  earned  by  a 
Braidwood  miner,  together  with  that  earned  by  the  Spring 
Valley  miner,  the  amount  of  labor  being  equal  at  each  mine,  we 
ought  to  be  able  to  arrive  at  what  would  be  a  fair  price  to  the 
miner  for  mining  a  ton  of  coal  at  Spring  Valley  to  make  it  the 
equivalent  of  the  price  received  by  the  miner  at  Braidwood. 
This  comi)arison  would  show  that  (the  price  now  paid  a  Braid- 
wood miner  for  mining  a  ton  of  coal  being  87^  cents  per  ton 


240  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

in  a  2-feet  lo-inch  vein  of  coal,  with  forty-two  inches  of  brush- 
ing) an  equivalent  price  for  mining  a  ton  of  coal  at  Spring 
Valley  in  a  3-feet  8-inch  vein  of  coal  with  thirty  inches  of  brush- 
ing would  be  68.14  cents  per  ton.  The  miners  at  Spring  Valley 
demand  82 j/^  cents  per  ton  for  mining  in  the  third  vein  with 
sixteen  inches  of  brushing,  and,  if  required  to  do  thirty  inches  of 
brushing,  then  to  be  paid  twenty  cents  per  ton  additional  for  the 
coal  mined,  which  would  make  the  cost  of  mining  a  ton  of  coal 
at  Spring  Valley  $i.02j^  per  ton  as  compared  with  the  price 
now  paid  at  Braidwood  (where  the  Braidwood  miner  does  forty- 
two  inches  of  brushing)  of  87^^  cents  per  ton. 

When  we  come  to  what  is  known  as  the  Streator  field,  we 
cannot  with  any  certainty  make  a  relative  comparison  between 
the  Streator  vein  and  our  third  vein ;  but  our  second  vein  of 
coal  and  the  Streator  vein  are  similar  in  all  respects,  with  tlie 
exception  that  perhaps  our  second  vein  contains  from  five  to 
nine  inches  more  coal,  on  an  average,  than  the  Streator  vein. 
We  have  compared,  as  I  have  stated,  the  Braidwood  vein  with 
our  third  vein  because  they  are  similar  in  all  respects,  and  both 
are  worked  under  the  long-wall  system.  Our  second  vein,  like 
the  Streator  vein,  is  worked  upon  the  room  and  pillar  system. 
The  miners  and  the  operators  at  Streator  have  agreed,  for  the 
])resent  year,  upon  72 j-^  cents  per  ton  for  mining  a  ton  of  coal, 
and  we  are  entirely  willing  to  pay  our  men  72^  cents  per  ton 
in  the  second  vein,  giving  to  them  any  advantage  which  this 
price  may  give  as  between  the  Streator  vein  and  the  Spring 
Valley  second  vein. 

A  word  as  to  the  alleged  "  pauper  wages  "  the  miners  in  the 
Illinois  coal  fields  have  received.  The  statement  made  by  the 
committee  of  the  State  Board  of  Charities,  in  their  report  to 
you,  that  the  average  monthly  wages  of  the  miners  throughout 
the  general  mining  district  of  Illinois  for  the  year  1888  was 
$31.60,  does  not  agree  with  what  an  average  miner  earned  at 
Spring  Valley.  I  have  had  prepared  a  table  of  the  work  done 
and  the  money  paid  to  twenty-five  average  mmers  at  Spring 
Valley,  who  were  permanently  employed  there  during  the  last  year. 


APPENDIX.  241 

I  can  furnish  their  names  and  further  details,  which  would  be  too 
voluminous  to  embrace  in  this  communication.  A  summary  of 
this  table  shows  that  these  twenty-five  men,  working,  we  believe, 
not  to  exceed  seven  hours  in  a  day,  mined  an  average  of  2.7 
tons  of  coal  per  day  or  part  of  a  day,  including  16  inches  of 
brushing;  that  the  average  pay  received  by  each  miner  for  each 
day  or  part  of  a  day  worked  was  $2.51  per  day ;  that,  of  the 
298  working  days  in  the  year,  the  average  time  lost  by  each 
miner,  whether  voluntarily  or  involuntarily,  was  66  days,  or  22 
per  cent.;  that  the  total  average  amount  of  pay  received,  if 
divided  over  the  whole  numl:)er  of  working  days  in  18S8,  would 
amount  to  an  average  of  $1.96  per  day  for  each  miner,  and  that 
the  total  average  amount  paitl  each  of  these  twenty-five  miners 
for  the  year  1888  was  $582.79,  or  an  average  of  $48.56  per 
month  for  the  twelve  months  in  the  year,  including  over  two 
months  of  lost  time  —  the  amount  stated  being  the  absolute  net 
earnings  of  these  twenty-five  men,  after  deducting  every  outlay 
which  they  are  subject  to. 

As  to  the  alleged  profits  realized  by  the  stockholders  of  the 
company  from  the  mining  of  coal,  from  the  company's  store, 
and  from  the  town  site  of  Spring  Valley,  they  have  no  more 
foundation  to  stand  upon  than  the  other  charges  referred  to 
herein.  During  the  four  years  the  work  has  been  in  operation 
no  stockholder  has  received  one  cent  return  upon  his  invest- 
ment, nor  will  the  books  of  the  company  show  that  he  is  en- 
title 1  to  any.  As  to  the  company's  store  and  its  profits,  I 
would  state  that,  on  the  1st  of  May  last,  when  the  mines  were 
closed  and  every  employe  of  the  company  had  been  paid  what 
was  due  him  in  cash,  the  books  of  the  store  showed  that  there 
was  due  the  store  about  $17,000,  85  per  cent,  of  which  was 
owed  by  the  men  who  had  been  employed  by  the  company;  and 
this  $17,000  represents  not  only  the  capital  originally  invested 
in  the  store,  but  some  .$4,000  over,  and  these  debts  we  consider 
of  little  or  no  value.  The  total  gains  arising  from  the  sale  of 
lots  at  Spring  Valley  by  the  Town  Site  Company  for  a  ]ieriod 
of  five   years  and    up    to    this    date,    instead    of   the    fabulous 


242  A    e^TRIKE    OF    MILLTONAlRKS. 

aniounl  stated  by  certain  reckless  journals,  will  not  exceed  the 
sum  of  $26,000.* 

*  Statements  like  these,  cunningly  ambiguous,  as  careful  reading  will 
show,  made  without  verification,  and  put  forward  by  one  party  to  a  dis- 
pute for  the  purpose  of  cheapening  what  he  wants  to  buy  of  the  other  — 
his  life  and  labor — cannot  he  accepted  as  evidence.  They  are  invalidated 
hopelessly  by  the  demonstrations  elsewhere  given  aii  ttauseam  of  the 
utter  unreliability  of  all  of  the  important  statements  made  by  the  officials 
of  the  company  in  their  various  communications  to  the  public.  These 
allegations  of  loss  are  inconsistent  with  the  known  facts  of  the  case.  At 
the  time  of  making  these  assertions,  the  president  of  the  company  had 
refused  to  accept  his  own  offer  to  give  up  the  management  of  his  mines  to 
his  men  if  they  would  pay  him  a  bonus  of  fifteen  cents  a  ton.  The 
company  was  therefore  making  more  than  that.  The  unprofitableness  of 
the  mines,  the  Town  Site  Company  and  the  company  store  is  negatived 
also  by  the  eagerness  of  the  company  to  resume  work  at  wages  more  than 
double  those  at  first  offered.  Nothing  need  be  said  of  the  evidence  which 
could  be  procured  of  those  who  have  seen  the  books  and  balance  sheets  of 
the  various  companies,  and  can  testify  that  they  all  exhibited  profits, 
although  these  may  have  been  reinvested  in  the  enterprise,  instead  of 
being  paid  out  in  dividends.  But  even  if  the  pretense  of  losses  was  true, 
it  does  not  justify  one  of  the  outrages  done  at  .Spring  Valley.  The  Rev. 
John  F.  Power,  of  Spring  Valley,  gave  the  following  information  to  a 
reporter  of  the  Chicago  Inter  Ocean  : 

"The  president  of  the  coal  company  is  not  honest  with  the  people. 
When  he  last  met  the  men  he  made  the  bluff:  '  Give  me  fifteen  cents  per 
ton  royalty,  and  you  may  take  the  d — d  mine  and  run  it.'  That  was  his 
language,  and,  when  his  superintendent  offered  to  take  the  mines  at  the 
proposition,  he  refused  to  let  him  have  them.  The  president  says  that  he 
has  lost  money  here.  That  is  not  true.  In  the  last  two  years  his  mines 
here  have  netted  him  $160,000.  The  company  store  has  netted  $34,000 
since  it  was  started. 

"the  company  h.\s  m.^de  money 
on  its  coal  operations;  it  has  made  money  on  its  town-site  investment; 
it  has  made  money  on  its  store. 

"The  trouble  is  that  he  has  not  been  able  to  make  6  per  cent,  on  the 
watered  stock  of  $2,500,000.  That  is  the  amount  of  the  stock  they  claim. 
It  is  half  water.  The  whole  outlay  here  cannot  exceed  $1,250,000. 
The  40,000  acres  of  coal  was  purchased  to  keep  out  competitors.  They 
paid  .$10  an  acre  for  it.  That  would  be  .$400,000.  The  town  site  cost  them 
$80  an  acre.  You  can  figure  up  what  they  are  out  there  and  for  the  mining 
machinery.  I  cannot  see  where  they  have  invested  more  than  $1,000,000 
capital." 

To  which  "  L.  W.  B."of  the  Inter  Ocean,  after  careful  inquiry  among 
the  principal  tradesmen  and  citizens,  adds: 

The  president  of  the  company  claims  he  has  lost  money  in  .Spring 
Valley.  That  may  be,  but  it  will  take  different  figuring  from  that  made 
by  the  men  here  to  show  his  losses.  He  bought  the  coal  under  40,000 
acres  of  land  at  .$10  an  acre.  This  is  an  outlay  of  $400,000.  He  paid 
about  $50,000  for  the  town  site.  He  put  up  200  houses  at  $500  each, 
which  would  represent  another  $100,000.  'I'his  makes  $650,000  of  an 
outlay,  and 

LE.WES    HIM    NEARLY    $2,000,000 

of  his  capital  stock  to  pay  for  sinking  five  shafts.     In  reality  these  did 
not  with  the  hoisting  machinery  cost  more  than  $100,000. 

On  the  town  site,  which  cost  about   $50,000,  he  realized  more   than 


APPENDIX.  243 

One  of  the  necessary  adjuncts  in  the  operation  of  a  propeity 
such  as  the  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company  is  tenement  houses  for 
those  in  the  employ  of  the  company  to  live  in.  The  .Spring 
Valley  Coal  Company,  at  an  expenditure  of  $100,000  has  con- 
structed about  150  miners'  houses.  The  money  rent  of  these 
houses  is  a  secondary  consideration  to  the  company,  as  the  op- 
eration of  the  mines  is  mainly  contingent  upon  their  control 
and  who  occupies  them.  On  the  1st  of  May  last,  when  work 
was  stopped  at  Sprmg  Valley,  the  miners  and  their  families 
then  occupying  the  company's  houses  were  left  in  possession, 
and  they  remained  in  undisturbed  possession  until  about  the  mid- 
dle of  .August,  when  the  proposition  of  seventy-five  cents  per  ton* 
was  made  to  the  men  to  resume  work,  and  the  superintendent 
of  the  company  was  instructed  as  follows: 

"  In  carrying  out  these  instructions,  I  desire  to  avoid  all  con- 
flict with  the  men  or  to  give  them  any  reasonable  ground  for 
complaint ;  and  in  case  any  of  our  houses  are,  on  receipt  of  this 
letter,  occupied  by  the  families  of  the  men  who  are  absent,  you 
will  not  take  any  legal  proceedings  to  obtain  possession  of  such 
hoiises  until  the  absentees  have  been  notified,  and  have  had  time 
to  return  to  .Spring  Valley,  to  remove  their  families.  You  will 
make  no  claims  cr  demands  upon  the  men  for  rents  due  the  com- 
pany since  the  1st  of  May,  unless  in  the  case  of  such  occupants 
whose  ability  to  pay  will  justify  you  in  so  doing." 

It  is  now  the  25th  day  of  September,  or  nearly  five  months 
(since  May  ist),  that  many  of  those  houses  have  been  occupied 
by  the  men  or  their  families,  and  u|i  to  the  time  of  this  vvriting 
the  possession  of  any  house  has  not  been  secured  by  distraint 
or  eviction.  But  many  of  these  houses  are  now  occupied  by 
the  families  of  men  who  have  left  Spring  Valley  and  are  work- 
ing at  other  mines  for  less  wages  than  we  are  willing  to  pay  them; 
others  by  men   who  will  not   vacate,  and    who    have   publicly 


$300,000,  making  600  per  cent  on  his  investment.  The  40,000  acres  of 
coal  was  purchased  to  keep  out  competition,  but  he  has  made  his  whole 
investment  pay  a  fair  per  cent,  on  his  watered  stock  oi  $2,500,000.  That 
is  what  is  claimed  by  the  best  business  men  of  .Spring  Valley. 

*  Thirty-five  cents  a  ton  net. 


244  A    STRIKE    OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

threatened  mob  violence  if  they  are  disturbed  in  their  occu- 
pancy. These  men  will  neither  work  themselves  nor  permit 
others  to  work;  and,  if  we  should  attempt  lawfully  to  exercise  a 
right  enjoyed  by  every  citizen  of  your  State  to  regain  posses- 
sion of  our  houses  by  distraint  (without  issuing  an  execution  or 
levy  upon  the  tenants'  household  goods  for  back  rents),  we 
should  expose  our  property  to  incendiarism  and  ourselves  to 
the  criticism  of  the  press  as  oppressors  of  labor.  If  this  con- 
dition of  affairs  is  not  anarchy,  virtual  confiscation  of  property, 
and  the  subordination  of  the  law  of  the  land  to  the  will  of  the 
mob,  then  I  do  not  know  how  to  designate  it,  and  yet  it  is  appar- 
ently upheld  by  an  intelligent  and  law-abiding  public. 

This  company  and  its  officers  have  been  charged  with  closing 
down  the  mines  and  refusing  to  negotiate  with  the  men,  with 
the  object  in  view  of  obtaining  a  reduced  and  unfair  price  of 
mining,  regardless  of  the  welfare  of  the  men  and  their  families. 
To  this  I  answer  that  it  is  false;  that  I  went  to  Chicago  in  April, 
on  the  invitation  of  a  committee  representing  our  men,  to  meet 
them  there,  and  after  I  had  traveled  i,ooo  miles  to  comply  with 
their  request,  the  committee  could  not  travel  lOo  miles  to  meet 
their  own  engagement. 

If  the  statements  herein  and  the  conclusions  drawn  from 
same  are  reliable,  you,  sir,  and  an  intelligent  public,  will  admit 
that  the  closing  of  our  mines  May  1st,  last,  was  not  ior  the 
purpose  of  forcing  our  miners  to  accept  starvation  prices  for 
mining  our  coal,  but  that  we  were  justified  in  so  stopping  until 
some  fair  and  equitable  basis  for  the  mining  of  our  coal  could 
be  agreed  upon,  based  on  tlie  price  paid  for  mining  at  other 
mines  in  the  State  where  the  conditions  are  similar. 

We  know  of  no  law,  moral  or  statute,  that  makes  coal 
mining  an  exception,  or  which  is  not  equally  applical^le  to  tlie 
conduct  of  any  other  business  interest  of  the  country;  nor  do 
we  know  of  any  moral  or  statute  law  tliat  makes  it  obligatory 
upon  the  individual  citizen,  or  a  corporation,  to  conduct  his  or 
its  business  regardless  of  the  interests  of  such  business  and  the 
conditions  of  trade,  solely  for  the  object  of  furnishing  emi^loy- 
ment  to  the  labor  of  the  country,  when  such  a  policy  must  inev- 


APPENDIX.  245 

itably  result  in  the  bankruptcy  of  the  individual  or  corpora- 
tion. 

We  now  propose  to  stand  on  our  legal,  moral,  and  equitable 
rights.  No  amount  of  personal  misrepresentation  and  abuse, 
emanating  from  a  gang  of  professional  agitators  at  Spring 
Valley  and  circulated  throughout  the  country  by  a  partisan 
press  *  can  drive  us  or  influence  us  to  resume  work  at  Spring 
Valley  upon  any  other  basis  for  mining  than  a  relative  price  to 
that  paid  by  other  mines  in  your  State,  where  the  conditions  are 
similar,  unless  we  choose  to  do  so  voluntarily.  And  when  this 
conduion  of  affairs  can  be  brought  about,  we  are  ready  to  start 
up  our  works,  and  do  all  within  our  power  to  find  steady  em- 
ployment for  our  men. 

Taking  the  present  price  of  mining  as  agreed  upon  between 
the  operators  and  miners  at  Braidwood,  namely,  72^  cents  per 
ton  for  mining  the  coal  and  15  cents  for  42  inches  of  brushing, 
and  deducting  from  this  the  relative  difference  between  mining 
a  ton  of  coal  at  Braidwood  and  Spring  Valley,  on  the  basis  of 
72)4  cents  at  Braidwood  (arrived  at  in  same  manner  as  hereto- 
fore shown,  based  upon  the  price  of  18S8),  of  15.07  cents  per  ton 
in  favor  of  Spring  Valley,  our  price  for  mining  should  be  57.43 
cents  per  ton;  and  adding  to  the  57.43  cents  the  price  we  should 
pay  for  30  inches  of  brushing,  based  upon  the  Braidwood  price 
of  15  cents  for  42  inches  of  brushing,  namely,  10.71  cents,  it 
would  make  the  relative  price  of  mining  at  Spring  Valley  68.14 
cents  per  ton,  including  30  inches  of  brushing.  We  leave  it  to 
an  impartial  public  to  say  whether  in  refusing  to  accede  to  the 
demands  of  the  men  for  82^  cents  per  ton,  with  16  inches  of 
brushing,  and  20  cents  per  ton  additional  for  14  inches  of  brush- 
ing, the  misrepresentations  and  abuse  with  which  the  officers  of 
this  company  have  been  assailed  by  an  unscrupulous  press  are 
justifiable. 

In  offering  our  men  75  centst  per  ton  for  mining  a  ton  of  coal 

*  The  severest  criticisms  of  the  company  have  been  made  by  papers 
like  the  New  York  World,  New  York  Herald,  New  York  Sun,  Chicago 
Herald,  Chicago  Times,  and  St.  Louis  Republic,  all  of  which  represent 
the  party  to  which  the  president  of  the  company  belongs. 

t  Thirty-five  cents  a  ton,  when  all  the  conditions  of  the  offer  were 
fulfilled. 


246  A    STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

in  our  third  vein,  including  30  inches  of  brushing,  if  they  desired 
to  go  to  work,  which  is  2^  cents  more  tlian  is  paid  in  tlie 
Streator  field  and  6.86  cents  per  ton  more  than  an  equivalent  of 
the  price  paid  in  the  Braidwood  mines,  we  felt  and  still  Ijelieve 
that  we  had  made  all  the  concessions  that  we  can  possibly  make 
to  our  men  and  be  able  to  maintain  ourselves  in  a  competitive 
market.  Respectfully  yours,  President  of  the  Spring  Valley 
Coal  Company,  Erie,  Fa.,  Sept.  25,  it 


The  Chicaf^o  Times,  the  only  journal  which 
printed  this  statement  in  full,  conimented  upon 
it  in  the  following  editorial : 

WHAT   GOOD   FAITH    DEMANDS. 

The  Times  published  last  Saturday  a  statement  of  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company,  addressed  to  the  gov- 
ernor of  Illinois,  giving  the  company's  side  of  the  conflict  with  its 
miners. 

There  is  one  important  point,  which  the  president  in  his  long 
apology  passes  over  lightly,  which  deserves  general  attention. 
It  IS  asserted  that  the  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company,  soon  after 
its  organization,  when  in  the  process  of  developing  its  mine, 
offered,  by  advertisement  and  otherwise,  its  town  lots  for  sale, 
and  held  out  as  an  inducement  for  their  purchase  that  the  com- 
pany would  prosecute  the  business  of  coal-mining  and  make  the 
lots  offered  to  the  public  of  permanent  value.  On  these  repre- 
sentations a  very  considerable  number  of  town  lots  were  sold, 
the  men  in  the  employ  of  the  company  at  that  time  being  to  a 
large  extent  the  purchasers.  These  were  necessarily  men  of 
small  means,  and  the  sums  which  they  invested,  both  in  the  pur- 
chase of  the  land  and  the  construction  of  improvements,  were  to 
them  of  extreme  importance.  We  are  told  that  the  amount 
invested  on  these  representations  by  the  Spring  Valley  Coal 
Comjjany  in  lots  and  improvements  amounted  to  as  much  in  dol- 
lars as  the  total  amount  expended  by  the  company  itself  in  devel- 
oping the  mines  and  putting  them  in  a  condition,   as   the  presi- 


APPENDIX.  247 

dent  says,  for  ])ro(lucing  4,000  tons  of  coal  per  day.  The  state- 
ment in  regard  to  this  important  point  is  meager  and  unsatisfac- 
tory. He  said  :  "  The  total  gains  arising  from  the  sale  of  lots 
at  Spring  Valley  by  Ihe  Town  Site  Company  for  a  period  of  five 
years  and  up  to  this  date,  instead  of  the  fabulous  amount  stated 
by  certain  reckless  journals,  will  not  exceed  the  sum  of  $26,000." 

Whether  or  not  in  the  process  of  book-keeping  the  sum  of 
$26,000  is  all  the  profit  that  appears  on  the  company's  books 
from  its  town-lot  operations  is  not  of  special  moment.  The 
important  fact  is  that  a  large  number  of  men  of  small  means 
have  been  induced  by  the  company's  representations  to  invest 
their  money  in  the  purchase  and  improvement  of  real  estate, 
and  by  the  action  of  the  company  in  closing  its  mines  and 
ceasing  production  these  lots  and  the  improvement  thereon 
have  been  rendered  valueless.  This  is  a  point  which  the  press 
and  the  public  may  appreciate  and  rightfully  sit  in  judgment 
upon.  If  the  president  and  his  associates,  who  are  known  to  be 
men  of  large  means,  have  led  poor  men  into  losing  investments 
l)y  their  representation,  it  is  fair  and  right  that  they  should 
make  reimbursement  for  these  losses. 

The  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company  and  its  owners  may  or 
may  not  be  legally  bound  to  make  good  the  losses  resulting  from 
their  misrepresentations  in  this  regard.  It  is  tjuite  probable 
that  the  men  who  have  invested  their  money  in  Spring  Valley 
lots  and  improvements  are  not  able  to  contest  the  matter  in  the 
courts.  It  is  difficult  to  see,  however,  how  this  case  dififers  from 
those  in  which  the  managers  of  "  booms  "  in  various  parts  of 
the  country,  have  involved,  by  their  misrepresentations  and  false 
statements,  credulous  investors.  The  Spring  Valley  Coal  Com- 
pany undoubtedly  is  composed  of  men  thoroughly  conversant 
with  the  conditions  of  the  coal  trade.  They  bought  the  prop- 
erty at  .Spring  Valley  knowing  what  miners'  wages  and  the 
rates  of  transportation  were,  and  on  this  knowledge  they  based 
their  representations  to  the  public  that  they  could  successfully 
conduct  the  coal  business,  and  make  Spring  Valley  a  prosper- 
ous town.  If  they  deceived  themselves,  as  fair  business  men 
they  should  bear  the  whole  loss  of  that  deception,  and  not  profit 


248  A   STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

by  the  confidence  which  has  been  placed  in  them  by  men  of 
smaller  means. 

There  is  still  another  view  of  this  phase  of  the  matter.  It  is 
for  the  interest  of  employers  everywhere  that  laborers  should 
be  protected  in  the  ownership  of  their  homes.  The  laborer  who 
owns  his  home  is  a  better  workman  and  a  better  citizen  then  he 
who  lives  in  a  tenement.  The  saving  habit  which  the  purchase 
of  a  home  creates  in  the  workingman  is  one  which  wise  employ- 
ers everywhere  take  pains  to  develop.  It  is  a  misfortune,  equal 
to  the  failure  of  a  large  savings  bank,  when  the  real  estate  bought 
with  workingmen's  wages  is  made  of  no  value.  Just  as  the 
manager  of  a  savings  bank,  who  speculates  with  the  hard-earned 
money  of  workingmen  intrusted  to  him,  deserves  the  condem- 
nation of  the  press  and  public,  so  does  the  manager  of  any  large 
enterprise  who  leads  workingmen  to  invest  their  money  in  the 
purchase  of  property  which  he  afterward,  either  through  pique 
or  misjudgment,  destroys  the  value  of. 

If  the  president  of  the  coal  company  would  have  his  conduct 
approved  by  the  people  of  Illinois,  he  and  his  associates  of  the 
Spring  Valley  Coal  Company  should  take  steps  at  once  to  reim- 
burse those  who  have  been  misled  into  investing  in  the  Spring 
Valley  real  estate,  whether  their  investments  have  amounted  to 
a  sum  which,  as  it  is  claimed,  will  equal  the  total  amount  of  the 
Spring  Valley  Mining  Company's  investments  in  its  improve- 
ments or  are  no  more  than  the  $26,000  which  he  confesses  his 
company  has  profited  by  in  its  town-site  speculation. 

This  editorial  called  forth  the  followinf^  from 
the  spokesman  of  the  company: 

Erie,  Pa.,  Oct.  8.  —  To  the  Editor :  My  attention  has  been 
called  to  an  editorial  in  your  issue  of  the  2d  inst.,  charging, 
inferentially  if  not  directly,  the  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company 
with  selling  town  lots  to  residents  of  Spring  Valley  on  the 
strength  of  false  representations. 

I  should  not  feel  justified  in  trespassing  on  your  time  and 
encroaching  on  your  journal's  valuable  space  if  it  were  not  tha 


APPEJ^DIX.  249 

your  remarks  seem  to  invite  an  explanation.  They  embody 
statements  which  are  evidently  based  on  a  misunderstanding  of 
the  actual  facts,  and  the  inference  that  might  be  drawn  from 
them  would  therefore  be  erroneous.    • 

Unfortunately  we  have  no  literary  bureau  connected  with  our 
company,  and  consequently  it  would  be  an  impossibility  for  us 
to  reply  to  all  the  misstatements  concerning  the  company  pub- 
lished by  the  press  of  the  country.  If  we  were  to  undertake  the 
task  we  should  be  obliged  to  give  up  all  other  business,  for  we 
should  have  no  time  to  devote  to  anything  else. 

The  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company  has  never,  so  iar  as  my 
knowledge  goes,  offered  lots  for  sale.* 

It  has  never,  to  my  knowledge,  disposed  of  any  of  its  realty. 
If  it  has  disposed  of  any,  it  must  have  been  to  such  a  very  limited 
extent  tiiat  it  would  hardly  form  a  basis  for  the  deceptions  you 
seem  to  think  the  company  has  practiced,  but  which,  so  far  as  1 
have  any  knowledge  on  this  subject,  exist  only  in  miagina- 
tion. 

The  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company,  when  it  began  opera- 
tions, bought  and  is  now  the  owner  of  certain  real  estate  in  the 
town  of -Spring  Valley  necessary  for  the  operations  of  the  com- 
pany, present  and  future  —  if  it  is  to  be  permitted  by  the  law- 
less element  of  your  State  to  have  a  future.  The  sale  and  pur- 
chase of  lots  at  Spring  Valley  have  been  entirely  private  trans- 
actions, between  individuals,  with  which  the  company  has  had 
nothing  to  do.  While  the  parties  owning  the  lands  were  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent  interested  in  the  company,  if  there  has 
been  any  fraud  or  if  false  inducements  were  offered  for  the  sale 
of  lots,  would  it  not  be  fairer  to  specify  th^  alleged  cases  and 
let  those  who  are  personally  interested  answer,  and  not  bring 
general  or  vague  charges  or  indulge  in  insinuations  that  are  sup- 
ported by  nothing  belter  than  idle  rumors,  and  which  are  hardly 
worthy  of  refutation  ? 

The  property-owners  of  Spring  Valley,  in  my  judgment,  are 
not  suffering  from    false  representations    such    as  your   article 

*  See  advertisements  of  the  company  on  pages  24  and  29. 


250  A    STRIKE    OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

implies.  If  their  property  has  depreciated  in  vahic,  it  is  the 
natural  result  of  a  condition  of  anarchy.  There  is  no  law  in 
Spring  Valley  to-day.  Property  rights  are  not  recognized  there, 
nor  is  the  life  of  any  man  safe  there  after  dark  unless  it  be  that 
of  a  man  who  is  well  armed  and  able  to  protect  himself.  No 
wage-worker  can  go  to  Spring  Valley  and  exercise  the  rights  of 
American  citizenship  and  go  out  on  the  street  at  night  without 
placing  his  life  in  peril. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  property  has  declined  in  value  at  Spring 
Valley?  What  would  it  be  worth  in  the  city  of  Chicago  under 
a  similai  condition  of  affairs  ?  And  yet  high  officials  in  your 
city,  men  who  make  laws  as  well  as  those  whose  duty  it  is  to  ex- 
ecute them,  can  find  time,  under  the  cloak  of  "sweet  charity," 
to  sanction  the  lawless  condition  referred  to  when  within  sight 
of  their  office  windows  01  within  one  ward  of  your  city  more 
genuine  cases  of  destitution  and  misery  can  be  found  than  could 
be  found  in  twenty  Spring  \'alleys. 

When  law  and  order  shall  have  been  restored  at  Spring  Val- 
ley, when  a  human  life  is  safe  there,  when  a  property-owner  can 
control  the  property  that  he  has  bought  and  paid  for,  as  others 
control  their  property  in  your  State,  Spring  Valley  may  peihaps 
fulfill  the  hopes  and  expectations  of  her  citizens.  But  prosper- 
ity will  not  be  secured  by  disregarding  the  obligations  of  law. 

l)uring  the  year  iSSS  mir  company  paid  taxes  in  Illinois  ag- 
gregating over  $8,000.  This,  we  supposed,  was  our  contribu- 
tion for  the  protection  of  life,  liberty,  and  property  at  .Spring 
Valley.  Is  there  not  a  greater  principle  involved  in  the  existing 
condition  of  affairs  at  that  place,  and  in  which  the  whole  peo- 
ple of  your  Stale  have  an  interest,  than  there  is  in  the  issue 
which  you  undertake  to  raise.  If  there  be  any  such  cases  of 
deception  and  misplaced  confidence  as  you  seem  to  think  there 
are  at  Spring  Valley,  the  aggrieved  persons  have  the  courts  of 
law  to  apply  to  for  redress,  while  for  our  company  at  the  pres- 
ent time  there  appears  to  be  no  law  except  the  law  of  the  mob. 
Very  respectfully. 

President  of  the  Spring  A'alley  Coal  Co. 


APPENDIX.  251 

The  Chicago  Times  of  October  iith  made 
this  editorial  rejoinder,  which  ended  the  con- 
troversy: 

The  president  of  the  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company  falls  into 
error  such  as  Hamlet  warned  his  mother  against.  He  lays  the 
flattering  unction  to  his  soul  that  it  is  the  trespass  of  Illinois, 
not  the  soullessness  of  the  corporation  known  as  the  Spring 
Valley  Coal  Company,  that  is  responsible  for  the  blight  which 
has  fallen  upon  the  town  of  that  name.  He  writes  a  com- 
munication to  the  Times  wherein  he  chooses  to  make  a  distinc- 
tion, into  the  requirements  of  which  the  Times  does  not  choose 
to  follow  him,  because  it  is  practically  a  distinction  without  a 
difference,  between  the  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company  and  its 
twin  brother  or  other  close  relative,  the  concern  which  has  sold 
town  lots  at  Spring  Valley.  The  Times''  position,  generally 
stated,  was  that  if  the  coal  company  did  not  propose  to  carry 
on  the  business  of  coal-mining  at  this  place,  it  had  no  right, 
directly  or  indirectly,  to  sell  town  lots  and  induce  settlement 
upon  its  property  upon  the  representation  that  such  was  its 
purpose.  Such  town  lots  were  purchased  with  the  understand- 
ing that  the  industry  was  to  be  carried  forward  right  there.  He 
admits  tTiat  "  the  parties  owning  the  lands  were,  to  a  greater  or 
less  extent,  interested  in  the  company,"  by  which  he  means  the 
Spring  Valley  Coal  Company,  of  which  he  is  president.  We 
understand  how  these  things  aie  done.  There  are  wheels 
within  wheels.  The  coal  company  buys  coal  lands.  Certain  of 
these  lands  are  set  aside  for  persons  who  are,  to  "  a  greater  or 
less  extent,  interested  in  the"  coal  "company,"  and  they  repre- 
sent, that,  as  here  is  to  be  a  town  in  which  will  be  congregated 
a  large  body  of  miners,  we  will  sell  this  land,  subdivided  for  the 
purpose  as  town  lots.  Then,  in  course  of  time,  the  coal  com- 
pany locks  out  the  operatives  upon  a  pretext  with  which  the 
Times  nor  any  humane  person  can  have  sympathy,  and  the 
town  lots  become  next  to  worthless.  For  this  depreciation  the 
Times  avers  that  the  coal  company,  through  its  failure  to  carry 


2  52  A   STRIKE   OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

out  the  projects  it  intimated  to  miners  and  lot  purcliasers 
it  would  pursue,  is  responsible.  He  says:  "The  property- 
owners  of  Spring  Valley,  in  my  judgment,  are  not  suffering 
from  false  representations,  such  as  your  article  implies.  If 
their  property  has  depreciated  in  value,  it  is  the  natural  result 
of  a  condition  of  anarchy.  There  is  no  law  in  Spring  Valley 
to-day.  Property  rights  are  not  recognized  there,  nor  is  the 
life  of  any  man  safe  there  after  dark,  unless  it  be  the  life  of  a  man 
who  is  well  armed  and  able  to  protect  himself."  Consciously 
or  unconsciously,  he  is  guilty  of  a  gross  calumny  not  alone  con- 
cerning Spring  Valley,  where  life  and  property  are  wholly  safe, 
but  also  concerning  the  State  of  Illinois,  which  protects  both. 
He  writes  from  Erie,  Pa.,  and  speaks  without  personal  knowl- 
edge, or  we  assume  he  would  not  speak  thus  loosely.  There 
is  not  in  all  of  Pennsylvania  a  more  orderly  commiuiity,  nor 
is  there  in  all  Pennsylvania  a  community  more  unjustly  dealt 
by  than  the  settlement  which  the  Spring  ^'alIey  Coal  Com- 
pany induced  to  gather  there  from  far  and  wide,  and  now 
leaves,  miners  and  town-site  owners,  and  all,  to  the  charity  of 
mankind. 

If  it  was  not  the  purpose  of  the  Spring  Valley  Coal  Com- 
pany to  carry  on  the  business  of  mining  at  the  point  named, 
persons  more  or  less  interested  in  it,  of"  whom  the  president 
may  or  may  not  be  one,  had  no  moral  right  to  sell  farm  lands  as 
town  lots;  it  had  no  right  to  gather  miners  from  other  fields 
and  center  them  there,  and,  when  it  suited  the  purpose  of  the 
concern,  to  shut  down  the  mines  and  lock  out  the  operatives. 
These  Pennsylvania  tactics  are  not  welcome  in  Illinois.  Spring 
Valley  is  not  in  a  condition  of  anarchy.  It  is  in  a  condition  of 
extreme  distress  —  a  situation  brought  about  not  by  the  opera- 
tives of  the  mines,  not  by  the  owners  of  town  sites,  who  have 
good  cause  bitterly  to  repent  their  bargains,  but  by  a  coal  com- 
pany which  seems  to  be  as  soulless  a  corporation  as  ever  was 
organized  under  the  laws  of  this  or  any  other  State. 

It  is  not  creditable  to  the  president  of  the  company  and  his 
associates,  that  they  alone  of  all  the  mine-owners  of  Illinois, 
refuse  to  carry  forward  the  operations  they  began,  and,  safe  in 


APPENDIX.  253 

their   possession  of  unbounded  wealth,  leave  poor  men   they 
had  gathered  about  their  shafts  to  idleness  and  hunger. 

The  foregoing  statement  to  the  public  by 
the  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company  was  met  by 
the  miners  with  the  following  address  to  the 
governor  of  Illinois: 

Hon.  Jost'plt  jr.  Fifc7-,  Governor  of  Illinois. 

Sir  —  The  open  letter  addressed  to  you,  and  through  you  to 
the  public,  by  the  president  of  the  Spring  Valley  Coal  Com- 
pany, in  which  he  endeavors  to  sustain  the  position  he  has 
taken  upon  the  question  of  mining  rates  for  the  Spring  Valley 
field,  showing,  as  he  attempts  to  do,  in  lengthy,  labored  argu- 
ments, the  justice  and  equity  of  his  claims,  based,  as  he  pre- 
sents them,  upon  a  comparison  with  competitive  districts,  dis- 
plays a  willingness  to  meet  the  issue  as  squarely  as  he  under- 
stands it. 

In  replying  to  his  statements  of  the  case,  we  must  ignore  a 
considerable  portion  of  his  letter,  which  has  no  application,  so 
far  as  mining  is  concerned,  to  the  present  difficulty;  therefore 
we  will  treat  only  such  features  as  are  vital  to  the  question  at 
issue,  pointing  out  to  you,  and  the  public,  the  fallacious  nature 
of  the  conclusions  at  which  he  has  arrived. 

It  is  generally  understood,  that,  when  the  operators  of  north- 
ern Illmois  offered  a  ten  cent  reduction,  he  made  no  proposition 
to  his  miners,  but  left  them  in  doubt  as  to  the  terms  he  desired 
and  intended  to  offer.  When  the  joint  meetings,  brought  about 
by  the  agency  of  the  commission  appointed  by  you,  succeeded 
in  obtaining  a  concession  of  i)A,  cents,  making  the  reduction  in 
mining  rates  7^^  cents  per  ton  as  compared  with  last  year's 
prices,  which  rates  have  been  accepted  by  the  miners  employed 
in  the  field  accepted  by  the  strike,  then  it  was  that  he  proposed 
75  cents  for  mining  at  Spring  Valley,  30  inches  of  brushing,  3 
men  in  a  room,  with  an  additional  condition  that  in  the  future 
he  would  refuse  to  deal  witli  his  miners  through  their  commit- 


2  54  A   STRIKE   OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

tees  or  as  an  organized  body.  He  says  that  his  company  "  lias 
never  asked,  expected  or  desired  a  miner  working  in  our  mines 
to  mine  coal  for  one  cent  a  ton  less  than  a  fair  relative  price  as 
compared  with  what  was  paid  in  other  fields  of  northern 
Illinois, "and  intimates  that  they  shall  continue  to  pursue  m  the 
future  the  same  equitable  policy  that  has  marked  their  past  his- 
tory, yet  the  proposition  made  by  him,  and  which  he  thinks  fair, 
and  should  be  accepted,  is  a  reduction  of  15  cents  per  ton  below 
rates  paid  last  year,  with  other  conditions  annexed,  equal,  upon 
the  company's  own  admission,  to  10.75  cents  per  ton,  as  against 
in  the  La  Salle  field,  his  nearest  neighbor  and  competitor,  of  y'i 
cents,  with  20  inches  of  brushing;  and  the  La  Salle  field  condi- 
tions as  to  mining  and  markets  are  the  same  in  every  respect  as 
those  which  prevail  at  Spring  Valley  mines. 

While  professing  a  willingness  to  pay  as  much  for  mining  as 
his  competitors  in  northern  Illinois  pay,  he  in  his  argument 
ignores  the  other  and  more  important  fields  surrounding  him  in 
northern  Illinois,  and  confines  himself  to  a  comparison  of  earn- 
ing ability  between  miners  employed  at  Spring  Valley  and  at 
Braidwood. 

To  show  the  fallacious  character  of  his  comparative  reasoning, 
as  applied  to  his  own  and  surrounding  mines,  let  us  briefly  out- 
line methods  by  which  miners'  wages  have  been  and  are  likely 
to  be  adjusted. 

In  fixing  mining  rates  in  mines  shipping  coal  to  a  common 
market,  one  of  two  principles  must  be  recognized:  ist,  by  the 
amount  of  l^or  required  to  produce  a  ton  of  coal,  regardless 
of  cost  of  dead  work,  quality  or  ability  to  sell  it  in  a  competi- 
tive market;  2d,  by  the  fixing  upon  a  mean  between  the  amount 
of  labor  required  to  produce.  The  cost  of  production  to  own- 
ers and  operators  of  mines,  quality  of  coal  and  ability  to  com- 
pete with  coals  from  other  fields  entering  the  same  markets. 

To  carry  out  the  first  principle  means  to  give  a  cheaper  rate 
of  mining  to  miners  having  thick  coal,  which  is  easily  mined, 
and  a  proportionately  higher  rate  in  mines  where  mining  is  ren- 
dered more  difficult  through  a  decreased  thickness  of  the  coal- 
bed  and  faults   of   other  kinds  that  make  mining  hard  and  dis- 


APPENDIX.  255 

agreeable.  Any  one  conversant  with  coal-mining  knows  that 
this  metliod  means  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  and  is  generally- 
advocated  by  operators  whose  mines  have  great  natural  advan- 
tages in  the  way  of  thick  coal  and  a  low  rate  of  dead  work. 
The  claims  of  these  operators  are  that  a  day's  labor  is  a  day's 
labor,  and  whether  performed  in  one  field  or  the  other,  in  a 
thick  or  in  a  thin  vein  of  coal,  should  yield  to  the  miner  the 
same  rate  of  wages  per  day.  Upon  this  basis  and  by  this 
method  of  reasoning  the  president  of  the  coal  company,  with  a 
view  of  reducing  the  wages  of  his  miners,  compares  the  earn- 
ing ability  of  the  Spring  Valley  and  Braidwood  miners.  We  do 
not  believe  this  method,  under  existing  conditions,  is  practica- 
ble, and  we  kno\\',  if  it  was  applied  in  a  general  way,  that  it 
would  close  his  mines,  and  his  customers  would  purchase  from 
more  favored  fields.  He  says  tliat  the  proper  relative  differ- 
ence between  Braidwood  and  Spring  Valley  should  make  the 
price  at  the  latter  place  68.14  cents  per  ton.  It  is  generally 
known,  and  cannot  be  questioned,  that  a  miner  in  Mt.  Olive 
mines,  Macoupin  County,  111.,  can  produce  with  the  same 
labor  double  the  quantity  of  coal ;  and,  if  the  equitable  theory 
of  labor  cost,  as  urged  by  him,  be  enforced,  the  relative  rate  at 
Mt.  Olive,  as  compared  with  Spring  Valley,  should  be  34.7 
cents  per  ton.  This  adjustment  would  equalize  the  earning 
power  of  miners  and  permanently  close  mines  located  and  op- 
erated under  similar  conditions  as  those  at  Spring  Valley, 
whereas  necessity  would  compel  miners  to  secure  employment 
in  more  favored  fields.  To  the  miners  this  charge  would  in- 
volve temporary  inconveniences,  but  to  operators  it  means  total 
less  of  invested  capital. 

The  second  principle  to  which  we  referred  is  founded  upon 
"  a  live  and  let  live  policy,"  by  which  operators  and  miners  in  a 
competitive  field  agree  to  share  the  responsibilities  and  divide 
with  each  other  the  labor  and  cost  involved  in  the  production 
of  coal. 

The  method  is  the  one  liy  which  all  wage  adjustments  have 
been  hitherto  made,  and,  although  it  has  sometimes  given,  as  it 
must  necessarily  give,  a  greater  reward  to  miners  in  thick  coal 


256  A    STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

than  it  does  to  miners  working  in  thinner  seams,  it  has  also 
tended  to  keep  operators  nearly  upon  the  same  plane  in  produ- 
cing and  selling  coal ;  this  because  it  is  cheaper  to  produce  coal 
in  a  thick  than  in  a  thin  vein.  Hence,  if  a  thick  co.al  seam  is 
profitable  to  operators,  and  if  thin  coal  afflicted  with  difficulties, 
such  as  brushing,  water,  etc.,  is  more  expensive  to  operate,  it 
cannot  be  questioned  that  it  is  also  less  remunerative  to  the 
miners,  or  that  the  disadvantages  are  shared  by  miners  and 
operators  alike. 

The  president  of  the  company  states,  "there  is  not  in  the 
State  of  Illinois,  nor  in  the  United  Stales,  a  coal  property  where 
men  can  work  with  less  discomfort  and  greater  safety  to  life  and 
limb  than  they  can  in  the  Spring  Valley  mines."  This  is  a  mis- 
take. There  is  as  much  safety  at  La  Salle,  Winona,  Minonk, 
Bloomington,  Decatur,  and  other  places  in  the  same  coal  bed, 
and  there  are  dozens  of  larger  coal  fields  in  the  United  States 
just  as  safe,  while,  so  far  as  comfort  is  concerned,  Spring  Valley 
is  no  better  off  than  the  places  named  above.  All  of  them  are 
free  from  water,  yet  miners  in  Spring  Valley  and  other  thin 
vein  mines  in  northern  Illinois  are  subjected  to  discomforts 
such  as  are  not  known  in  thick  coal  beds  or  in  mines  worked 
upon  the  room  and  pillar  system.  In  the  latter,  miners  have 
more  space  to  move  around  freely,  to  stand  erect  and  work  with 
ease,  while  at  Spring  \'alley  miners  work  upon  their  knees  or  in 
a  stooping  position,  and  in  loading  coal  must  work  in  the  nar- 
row space  left  between  the  packing  and  the  coal  face. 

Let  any  man  who  disbelieves  this  statement  spend  ten  hours 
hard  at  work  in  a  room  three  feet  or  three  feet  and  six  inches 
high,  and  convince  himself  that  there  is  greater  discomfort  ex- 
perienced than  in  working  just  as  hard  for  the  same  length  of 
time  in  a  room  five  to  eleven  feet  high. 

He  wants  three  men  in  a  room  instead  of  two  as  heretofore, 
and  is  willing  to  increase  the  length  of  the  rooms  from  thirty- 
six  to  forty-two  feet.  The  miners  are  willing  to  meet  thi^ 
objection  by  two  men  working  in  rooms  forty-two  feet  wide, 
but  they  feel  that  three  men  working  in  one  place  often  gel 
into  each  other's  way,  and  thus  lessen  their  ability  to  produce. 


APPENDIX.  ■  257 

If  he  does  not  want  to  cripple  the  earning  power  of  his  miners, 
and  simply  desires  to  save  in  roadways,  he  will  readily  grant  a 
forty-two  foot  room  to  two  men. 

He  also  intimates  that  the  hours  of  working  at  Spring  Valley 
did  not  exceed  seven.  The  facts  are  that  miners  at  Spring 
Valley  were  compelled  to  be  in  the  mine  before  7  a.  m.  and  to 
stay  in  their  working  places  until  5  p.  m.,  the  only  exceptions 
being  when  a  fall  of  stone  upon  the  roadway  or  no  cars  pre- 
vented them  from  working. 

The  president  is  evidently  misinformed  as  to  conditions  at 
Braidwood,  which  he  compared  with  those  of  his  mines.  It  is 
true  that  the  method  of  working  is  the  same,  that  is  to  say,  both 
places  are  operated  upon  the  "  long  wall  system."  We  have 
never  heard  any  very  serious  complaints  about  water  in  the 
Braidwood  mines,  as  he  asserts;  while  some  sections  of  the 
mines  may  at  times  be  damp,  they  are  not  wet.  If,  however, 
he  is  correct  in  his  statement  that  vast  quantities  of  water  accu- 
mulate at  the  working  faces  in  the  Braidwood  mines,  thereby 
involving  additional  expense  for  the  employment  of  extra  labor 
and  machinery  to  remove  it,  a  factor  to  which  he  attaches  great 
importance,  the  owners  of  wet  mines  must  be  at  a  decided  dis- 
advantage in  competing  with  the  dry  and  less  expensive  mines 
at  Spring  Valley. 

Regarding  the  amount  of  brushing  done  by  the  miners  at 
Braidwood  he  has  erred.  He  says  the  minimum  amount  is 
forty-two  inches  and  the  maximum  four  feet.  There  is  no  stip- 
ulated height  for  brushing  required  by  Braidwood  rules,  tlie 
only  requirement  is  that  the  roadway  be  kept  four  feet  from  the 
rail,  and  this  under  some  conditions  might  necessitate  three  feet 
of  brushing  and  under  others  considerably  less. 

There  is  removed  by  the  miners  two  feet  and  ten  inches  of 
coal  and  from  four  to  six  inches  of  fire  clay  as  mining,  and  to 
this  must  be  added,  according  to  him,  four  feet,  the  maximum 
brushing,  thus  making  a  space  of  over  seven  feet  ;  assuming  the 
roof  settles  until  it  reaches  the  bottom,  which  is  absurd  when  we 
consider  the  packing  put  in  the  place  of  the  coal  taken  out,  the 


17 


2  58  A    STRIKE-  OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

amount  of  brusliing  would   need   only  to   be  increased   a   few 
inches  to  cut  the  roadway  through  the  solid  rock. 

There  is  a  difference,  too,  in  the  manner  roadways  are  driven, 
not  accounted  for  by  him  asNto  width.  At  Braidwood  roadways 
in  rooms  never  exceed  seven  feet  in  width  at  the  bottom,  and 
are  arched  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  exceed  four  feet  at  the 
top,  while  at  Spring  Valley  the  requirement  is  nine  feet  at  the 
bottom  and  eight  feet  at  the  top,  and  the  labor  required  for  this 
work,  especially  at  the  Spring  Valley  mines,  by  reason  of  the 
extra  width  and  more  solid  nature  of  the  strata,  is  even,  at  six- 
teen inches  thick,  almost  if  not  equally  as  onerous  as  that  per- 
formed by  Braidwood  miners. 

The  nature  of  the  fire  clay  underlying  the  coal  strata  at 
Braidwood  is  more  uniform  than  at  Spring  Valley.  At  the 
former  place  it  is  customary  to  take  four  to  six  inches  of  clay 
in  mining,  while  at  Spring  Valley  there  is  an  irregular  sand- 
stone formation  underlying  the  fire  clay,  which  frequently 
touclies  the  bottom  of  the  coal  seam,  where  the  sandstone  rock 
fluctuates  so  as  to  leave  no  fire  clay  between  it  and  the  coal  bed, 
and  one-third  of  the  places  at  Spring  Valley  are  affected  in  that 
manner  ;  it  then  become  necessary  to  mine  in  the  coal,  and 
this  involves  a  double  hardship  upon  the  miners  employed  in 
such  rooms,  for  which  the  company  has  allowed  no  compensa- 
tion. It  increases  the  difficulty  of  mining,  and  when  mined  and 
brought  down,  its  shelly  and  brittle  nature  admits  a  larger  per- 
centage to  pass  through  the  screens,  and  for  which  the  miner 
receives  nothing. 

We  are  of  the  opinion  that  if  the  president  was  more  famil- 
iar with  mining  coal  at  Spring  Valley  than  his  assumptions  in- 
dicate, he  would  not  place  himself  in  a  position  to  be  justly 
crUicised  !)y  those  who  are  willing  to  admit  his  superior  brain 
power  in  many  respects.  He  say^:  "  not  one  additional  stroke 
of  the  arm  is  required  to  bring  down  the  coal,  compared  with 
Braidwood."  Here  again  he  errs.  And  it  is  upon  eirors  such 
as  we  have  referred  to,  mistakes  which  he  accepts-as  facts,  that 
the  erroneous  nature  of  his  conclusions,  if  not  the  imperfection 
of  his  logic,  is  clearly  shown.     The  amount  of  sulphur,  or  the 


APPENDIX.  259 

number  of  iron  bands  running  in  the  coal,  determines  the  ease 
or  difficulty  with  which  it  can  be  brought  down.     It  is  conceded 
that    all  coal   contains  more  or  less  refuse,  and  his  mines  are 
especially  cursed  in  this  way.     At   Braidwood  a  small  seam  of 
sulphur  is   mostly  found  about   the  middle  of  the  vein.     This 
varies,  as  it  does  in  all  other  mines,  from  one  to  two  inches  in 
thickness;    in    addition    to    this    there  is  at   Spring  Valley,    in 
nearly  every  place  in  the  entire  field,  a  band  of  iron  pyrites  two 
inches  from  the  top   of  the   seam,  varying  from   one  to  several 
inches  in  thickness.     There  is  no  cleaving  quality  in  this   stone, 
and  from  si.x  to  eight  inches  of  coal   is   thus  lost,  which   dimin- 
ishes materially  the   height   of  the    vein    represented    by   him. 
The  loss  of  this  amount  of   coal,  however,  is    not   the   chief 
complaint,  but  the  increased  labor  of  wedging  it  from  the  stone 
to  which  it  strongly  adheres.     Those  wlio  have  had  a   practical 
experience  with  mining  know  without  further  comment   the  in- 
creased labor  necessary  to  produce  coal  under  such   conditions. 
The    cost    of   production,  whether  it  be  due  to  natural  dis- 
advantages or  incompetent  management,   does,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  determine  the  margin  of  profit  and  the  prices  for  labor  at 
which  the  mine  can  be  successfully  operated,  under  the  head  of 
what  is  commonly  known  as  "  dead  work,"  which  phrase  is  in- 
tended to  cover  operating  expenses  of  all  kinds,  much  of  an  in- 
teresting character   might  be  furnished.     In  the  late  investiga- 
tion conducted  by  the  commission  appointed  by  you,  to  effect, 
if  possible,   a    peaceable   and    satisfactory    adjustment    of   the 
mining  difficulties  in  northern  Illinois,  much  information  of  a 
conflicting  nature  was  produced.     This,  too,  from  several  parts 
of  the  same  field,  where  conditions  being  nearly  equal  might 
reasonably  be  expected  to  illustrate  this  ;  the  actual  cost  of  dead 
work   embracing  every  source   of  expense  connected    with  the 
producing   of  a  ton  of  coal  at  Spring  Valley,  which  field,    by 
reason  of  the  absence  of  water  and  other  exceptional  conditions, 
which    increase  the  cost  of  production,  was,  as  shown    by    the 
books  of   that  company,  at  the    request   of  Messrs.  Gould  amj 
Wines,  the  committee    appointed   by  you,  forty-six    cents    per 
ton,  while  the  actual  operating  expenses  of  the  Braidwood  field. 


26o  A    STRIKE   OF    MILLIONAIRES. 

which,  as  the  company  ptactically  admits,  is  higher  by  reason 
of  tlie  water  and  other  disadvantages  with  which  that  section 
has  to  contend,  disadvantages  whicli  we  admit  are  shared  to 
some  extent  equally  by  the  miners  and  operators,  were,  as 
Colonel  A.  L.  Sweet  testified,  equivalent  to  forty-five  cents 
per  ton. 

Here  the  query  naturally  suggests  itself,  how  Colonel  Sweet, 
owning  and  operating  mines  at  Streator  and  Braidwood,  both 
under  heavy  disadvantages  as  compared  with  the  dry  and 
comparatively  inexpensive  mines  belonging  to  the  Spring 
Valley  Company,  paying,  in  addition  to  the  extra  sources  of  ex- 
pense from  which  the  natural  conditions  at  Spring  Valley  ex- 
empt the  company,  five  cents  per  ton  more  for  all  coal  pro- 
duced at  Braidwood,  could  yet  show,  as  he  has  done,  a  net 
expense  of  forty-five  cents  per  ton  against  the  forty 'six  cents  in 
Spring  Valley  field,  is  a  question  that  might  well  elicit  interest 
and  inquiry.  The  results  here  shov^-n  demonstrate  one  of  two 
facts,  either  that  the  mines  at  Spring  Valley  have  been  under  in- 
competent and  therefore  expensive  management,  or  that  Colonel 
Sweet's  mines  have  been  most  economically  conductetl.  If  the 
charge  of  relatively  increased  cost  is  due  to  mismanagement  or 
to  any  other  cause,  aside  from  actual  and  inevitable  operating 
expenses,  the  great  aim  on  the  part  of  the  company  should  be 
to  remove  the  defects  by  substituting  a  more  economical  policy, 
instead  of  endeavoring  to  reward  extravagance  or  put  a  pre- 
mium up  m  incompetency  by  reducing  mining  rates  below  what  is 
conceded  to  be  the  fair  relative  prices  in  the  districts  immedi- 
ately surrounding  him. 

The  miners  of  Spring  Valley  have  never  asked,  expected  or 
desired  to  receive  a  price  for  their  labor  in  excess  of  a  fair  rela- 
tive rate  as  compared  with  that  paid  in  other  fields  in  northern 
Illinois.  This  they  believe  they  are  entitled  to,  and,  as  the 
president  has  expressed  a  willingness  to  grant  this,  it  on'y  re- 
mains for  him  to  join  with  liis  miners  in  an  effort  to  arrive  at  the 
facts  in  the  case  by  practical  methods,  such  as  a  joint  investiga- 
tion as  to  the  truth  or  falsity  of  his  statements  as  compared  to 
ours. 


APPENDIX.  261 

From  the  statements  to  which  we  have  taken  exception,  we 
have  proved  and  could,  if  space  permitted,  further  demonstrate 
the  equitable  relations  which  Spring  Valley  prices  and  condi- 
tions, prior  to  the  strike,  gave  to  the  miners  and  operators  of 
that  field  as  compared  with  those  in  competing  districts.  We 
have  defined  the  advantages  the  Spring  Valley  company  would 
enjoy  as  compared  with  other  operators,  and  also  explained  the 
disadvantages  its  miners  would  labor  under  if  the  prices  and 
conditions  for  mining  at  Spring  Valley,  as  proposed,  were 
accepted.  The  injustice  of  the  president's  proposition  may  be 
summed  up  thus:  ist.  He  asks  his  miners  to  do  a  greater 
amount  of  brushing  than  Brairrwood  miners  are  required  to  do. 
2d.  For  this  work  he  proposes  to  pay  twelve  and  a  half  cents 
per  ton  less  than  Braidwood  miners  receive.  3d.  He  asks  his 
miners  to  mine  coal  three  feet  and  eight  inches  thick,  eight 
inches  of  which  is  lost  to  the  miner  by  reason  of  sulphur,  and 
in  addition  thereto  do  the  brushing  above  referred  to  at  a  price 
only  two  and  a  half  cents  per  ton  above  the  rate  paid  at  Streator, 
where  the  coal  is  over  five  feet  in  thickness  and  the  miners  have 
no  brushing  to  do.  4th.  He  proposes  a  reduction  of  fifteen 
cents  per  ton  with  thirty  inches  of  brushing,  while  the  original 
proposition  at  the  La  Salle  field,  his  nearest  competitors,  operat- 
ing under  precisely  the  same  conditions,  and  shipping  coal  into 
the  same  markets,  was  ten  cents  per  ton  below  last  year's  rates, 
which  proposition  has  since  been  reduced  to  seven  and  a  half 
cents,  or  one  half  less  than  that  demanded  of  us.  Iwenty- 
four  inches  of  brushing  that  has  by  compromise  been  reduced 
to  twenty  inches,  compared  with  his  demand  that  Spring 
Valley  miners  hereafter  shall  take  thirty  inches  or  ten  inches 
more  in  height,  including  extra  widtli,  than  asked  by  his  La  Salle 
competitors. 

Being  willing  to  accept  equitaljle  conditions  and  prices, 
and  to  effect  an  honorable  settlement  of  the  present  strike,  we 
offer 

ist.  'I'o  work  the  second  or  thick  coal  vein  at  .Spring  Valley 
for  the  ])rice  paid  Streator  miners,  namely:  72}^  cents  per  t<in; 
this,  too,  in  face  of  the  fact  that  the  mine  is  yet  in  the  crop  coal,  is 


262  A   STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

full  of  faults,  and  up  to  this  time  has  cost  the  company,  liy  their 
own  admission,  over  $2  per  ton  for  mining  it. 

2d.  Believing  that  the  president  of  the  coal  company  will  ad- 
mit the  fact  that  more  labor  is  required  to  mine  a  ton  of  coal  in 
the  third  vein  at  Spring  Valley  than  in  the  thick  coal  at  Streator, 
we  will  agree  to  mine  his  thin  coal  for  the  price  paid  the  thick 
coal  miners  at  Streator,  provided  the  company  will  do  the  brush- 
ing and  building;  or 

3d.  We  will  agree  to  an  adjustment  of  prices  and  conditions- 
such  as  may  be  determined  liy  arbitration,  or  by  an  agreement 
to  jointly  investigate,  and  be  governed  by  the  facts  developed 
by  such  an  investigation. 

Trusting  that  an  equitable  and  amicable  settlement  may  be 
speedily  effected  by  some  one  of  the  methods  herein  submitted, 
we  are,  sir, 

Respectfully  yours, 

Peter  McCall. 

James  McNulty. 

Wm.  Scaife. 

David  Ross. 

John  McBride. 

Ill    an  editorial,   commenting    on    this   cor- 
respondence between  the   "  head  "  of  the  coal 
company   and   its  "  hands,"  the    Chicago  Inter 
Ocean  said: 

The  president  of  the  Spring  Valley  Coal  Company  complained 
to  Governor  Fifer  that  the  press  of  Illinois  was  trying  to  compel 
him  to  run  his  mines  solely  in  the  interest  of  the  miners.  He 
claimed  that  he  had  been  willing  to  pay  fair  wages,  and  he 
labored  with  an  endless  column  of  figures  to  show  that  his  offer 
of  75  cents  a  ton  was  equal  to  the  wages  paid  in  other  Illinois- 
mines. 

The  miners  in  their  reply  do  not  resort  to  his  methods  of  hand- 
ling figures,  so  as  to  confuse  rather  than  enlighten.     They  make 


APPENDIX.  263 

a  plain  proposition,  which   he  will   either  accept   or  leave  the 
people  to  infer  that  his  first  letter  was  not  honest. 

He  claimed  that  the  second  or  middle  vein  in  his  mine  com- 
pared favorably  with  that  at  Streator.  This  vein  is  not  yet 
developed,  but  the  miners  met  him  more  than  half  way  with  an 
offer  to  work  this  vein  for  72  j4  cents  per  ton,  the  Streator  price, 
and  2^  cents  less  than  the  price  he  offered.  He  has  claimed 
that  every  ton  of  coal  taken  from  this  undeveloped  vein  has  cost 
him  $2.  He  has  a  good  chance  to  show  the  foolishness  of  the 
miners'  proposition  or  the  unfairness  of  his  own  by  accepting 
this  offer. 

Another  proposition  from  the  miners  seems  fair.  They  offer 
to  mine  the  coal  in  the  third  vein  for  the  same  price,  72^  cents 
per  ton,  if  the  company  will  do  the  brushing  and  road-making. 
This  would  be  pay  equal  to  that  at  Streator  and  Braidwood. 
.Streator  has  no  brushing  to  do,  and  the  Braidwood  operators 
pay  the  men  72^  cents  per  ton  for  the  coal,  and  pay  them  extra 
for  the  brushing  and  road-making.  I'he  president  of  the  com- 
pany argued  that  the  brushing  and  road  making  could  be  done 
for  less  money  than  his  miners  asked.  He,  in  fact,  offered 
them  zYz  cents  per  ton  for  this  work  and  sought  to  justify  that 
offer  in  his  letter  to  the  governor.  He  can  demonstrate  this 
much  clearer  to  the  people  of  Illinois  by  accepting  the  miners' 
second  proposition,  and  by  building  the  roads  and  doing  the 
brushing  for  ly^  cents  a  ton.  When  he  has  done  the  work  and 
balanced  his  books,  he  may  be  able  to  show  that  his  recent  offer 
was  fair  and  equitalile  as  compared  with  the  wages  paid  at 
Streator  and  Braidwood. 

The  miners  put  the  president  of  the  company  in  another 
corner  by  offering  to  submit  their  case  to  arbitration. 

They  have  the  best  of  the  controversy  so  far,  and  will  hold  it 
unless  he  meets  them  fairly  on  one  or  all  of  these  propositions. 
He  cannot  convince  the  people  of  Illinois  that  the  miners  are 
in  wrong,  and  that  he  is"  opposed  hy  anarchy, "Ijy  writing  long 
letters  with  such  statements.  The  fact  is  that  he  has  sought  to 
"break  down  the  miners'  union  in  Illinois.  He  did  not  wait  for 
a  strike  in  his  mines,  he  did  not  offer    a  proposition  for  reduced 


264  A   STRIKE    OF   MILLIONAIRES. 

wages.  He  closed  his  mines  and  threw  his  men  out  of  work. 
He  kept  the  mines  closed  until  after  a  settlement  had  been 
effected  at  Braidwood  and  Streator.  Then  he  offered  seventy- 
five  cents  a  ton,  the  brushing  to  be  done  for  nothing,  and 
announced  that  he  would  only  treat  with  men  individually  on  that 
proposition.  He  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  any  committee. 
In  his  letter  to  the  governor,  the  president  forgot  to  mention 
this  feature  of  the  trouble  between  him  and  his  miners.  It  is 
really  the  one  great  barrier  between  them,  and  he  should  be 
manly  enough  to  let  the  public  see  his  true  position,  or  keep 
quiet. 

In  matter  and  manner,  the  reply  of  the 
miners  justifies  the  confident  statement  of 
President  McBride  at  the  Indianapolis  conven- 
tion, in  December,  1889,  that  the  men  had 
shown  themselves  able  to  hold  their  own  in  an 
intellectual  contest  with  their  employers,  and 
corroborates  the  manly  acknowledgment  of 
Colonel  W.  P.  Rend,  at  the  Columbus  Joint 
Conference  of  March,  1889,  that  "We  found 
they  [the  miners'  representatives]  were  better 
equipped  and  better  prepared  with  arguments 
than  we  were." 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 

331.89L77S  C003 

A  STRIKE  OF  MILLIONAIRES  AGAINST  MINERS 


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